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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Monday, November 13, 2017
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MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Chinese President Xi Jinping assured everyone of safe passage at the South China Sea.
Duterte and Xi held a bilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit in Vietnam.
“He (Xi) assured us again na, ‘Do not worry. You have all the rights of the safe passage,’” Duterte said upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
During their talk the Philippine president also raised the need for a code of conduct among parties at the disputed waters.
Duterte said his proposal “quite surprised” the Chinese leader.
“I said, ‘I am not raising any sovereign issue. Do not worry. But as (ASEAN) chairman, I was made it – the, you know, a tunnel for the communications to be active,” he said.
“And I said, ‘I had to do it because the Philippines chairs the ASEAN now.’ Hindi naman ako pwede mag … I cannot escape from my duty. We are the … so I have every right to ask him.”
According to the Philippine president, he explained his position on the South China Sea “in a very nice way.”
“President Xi Jinping mentioned about a summit or a meeting, multilateral only, to talk about the rules of conduct. It has nothing to do with sovereignty,” said Duterte.
“If you go to the negotiating table and you start with the statement that, ‘I am here to claim validity of our ownership,’ you’re wasting your time,” the Philippine president said. “They will not talk about it.”/PN
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