{"id":129451,"date":"2017-11-08T02:33:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T07:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=129451"},"modified":"2017-11-08T02:33:33","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T07:33:33","slug":"ill-be-frank-with-china-duterte-on-west-ph-sea-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/08\/ill-be-frank-with-china-duterte-on-west-ph-sea-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ll be frank with China\u2019 \u2014 Duterte on West PH Sea dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Durterte, in his speech during the 67th Birthday celebration of the Philippine Marine Corps at the Bonifacio Naval Station in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on November 7, 2017, announces that he has set aside a P500-million budget for the wounded government security forces who fought for the liberation of Marawi City. The President said the budget will be used for their treatment while housing projects are also in store for the wounded war heroes. KING RODRIGUEZ\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he would be \u201cfrank\u201d with China in relation to the West Philippine Sea when he holds a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam this week.<\/p>\n

In a speech during the 67th<\/sup> anniversary of the Philippine Marine Corps in Fort Santiago, Duterte pointed out that he would assert the country\u2019s right amid China\u2019s apparent construction spree in the Paracels, a group of islands that is claimed by Vietnam and China.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am tempted to tell you something of my theory but, you know, I’m going to APEC tomorrow and we’ll have the bilaterals,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

“It would be at the time that I will be frank with China also. I know where Xi’s going, the direction, and laro ito ng<\/em> [it\u2019s a game of] geopolitics. Sabi ko<\/em> [I said], it would change the entire landscape of Southeast Asia if something goes wrong,” the President added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you will have to trust me na pupunta ako doon<\/em> [that I will go there]. But I will assert something and that is — or we will try to one day really put a stake to what we think is ours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the same speech, Duterte said he was counting\u00a0on the Chinese president to not build structures on maritime areas claimed by both Philippines and China.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng sinabi ko lang naman kay<\/em> [I only said to] Mr. Xi Jinping, \u201cDo not do\u2026 We will not give up our claims sa Pag-asa pati \u2018yung<\/em> [to Pag-asa] the nearby islands that we have occupied already. Small islands,\u201d the Chief Executive said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi niya<\/em> [he said](Xi Jinping), \u201cWe will not.\u201d And with this assurance he gave to the Foreign Secretary na hindi niya galawin <\/em>[he would not tamper it]. He will not build something on the Scarborough Shoal,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

The Philippine President expressed his hope that Xi would \u201chonor\u201d his promise because it will change the entire geography of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if—war starts, I don\u2019t know what would be the next geographical division of Asia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Duterte said now is not the time to talk about the arbitral tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands that has ruled in favor of the Philippines in its historic case against China in 2016.<\/p>\n

Duterte said it would cause a troublesome situation since there are other countries with claims to parts of the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really geopolitics thing and we’ll just have to consider ourselves now not in a defensive position but to insist na ito muna ang atin at huwag tayong\u2026 Kasi kung<\/em> [it is ours and we should not\u2026 Because if] we assert and go there, the other countries, Malaysia, I’m sure, and Indonesia, would also begin to push for what they think is their territory,\u201d the President explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you understand that because I cannot afford to go to war. I — you know, I know that it would end up in a massacre,\u201d Duterte added.<\/p>\n

Duterte is expected to be present at the APEC Leaders\u2019 Meeting from November 8 to 11, along with 20 other state leaders. He is scheduled to fly to Vietnam on Wednesday for the international gathering which started on November 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he would be \u201cfrank\u201d with China in relation to the West Philippine Sea when …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":129460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[8535,2444,3370,10052],"class_list":["post-129451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-apec-summit","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-west-philippine-sea","tag-xi-jinping","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}