Duterte says he’ll ‘set aside’ arbitral ruling on South China Sea

BATTLE-READY A satellite image released on Dec. 13 shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be antiaircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems on Hughes (McKennan) Reef in the West Philippine Sea, part of the South China Sea. China has said it has no intention to militarize Hughes and six other artificial islands in the strategic waterway, where several countries have conflicting territorial claims.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he would not press China on the United Nations’ (UN) arbitral ruling over the West Philippine Sea despite China’s alleged installation of military weapons on its artificial islands built on the disputed sea.

“In the play of politics now, I will set aside the arbitral ruling,” Duterte said in an early morning news briefing in Davao City after his arrival from state visits to Cambodia and Singapore.

READ: PH helpless vs China–Yasay

This was not the first time Duterte publicly said that he would not insist the arbitral ruling on China, which favors the Philippines’ maritime claims over the West Philippine Sea.

READ: Duterte on South China Sea claims: We won’t insist now

“I will not impose anything on China. Why? Because the politics here in Southeast Asia is changing. Like us now, I will separate or I will demand that you [US forces] go out of my country,” he said.

Duterte made the statement as he threatened anew to cancel the country’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States, after the United States aid agency Millennium Challenge Corp. put on hold funding for anti-poverty programs in the country.

The President said the VFA, after all, was an executive agreement and not a treaty.

READ: Duterte threatens to revoke VFA after US agency defers aid

“You know, America, you might also be put to notice. Prepare to leave the Philippines. Prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement,” he said.

He said he would decide soon on the cancellation of the VFA.

“I am putting them on notice. I will decide any day soon,” he said.

“Bye, bye America,” he added.

Duterte assailed how America criticized his no-nonsense war on illegal drugs and expressed concerns over the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

“So why don’t you just leave and if you think that there is extrajudicial killing here—it’s a prevalent one, it’s a virulent practice, you know. So why are you here? What is your purpose in this Visiting Forces Agreement?” he said.

The President reiterated the Philippines was not ready to fight to China and said that it was the United States who was “egging” a fight.

“We will never be ready to fight with China. It is you who is egging a fight there. We will never fight with Russia. That’s too far away and besides, we are friends, I said,” he explained. IDL