PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he will bring up the arbitral ruling on the South China Sea, which rejected China’s claims on the area, once China starts expropriating minerals out of the disputed waters.
“Yes, when the minerals are already being siphoned out,” Duterte said in a live television interview when asked about what specific circumstance would prompt him to bring up the ruling.
“[It’s a] question of money. ‘Wait a minute, I thought we [were] friends’,” he said.
“The wealth that comes out there, it is like [an] inheritance when your father and mother die, that is a mess.”
Asked if China’s man-made islands were a cause for concern for the country, the President said: “No, because if it really were a serious concern, the US [w]ould [have led] the way and stopped it right in the beginning.”
In July, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s claims on the disputed islands and rebuked its activities in the South China Sea, including the construction of artificial lands there. Duterte said the only way to settle the territorial row with Beijing would be by enforcing the Hague court ruling legally or going to war with China.
Duterte had made a U-turn in foreign policy a few months ago when he made overtures toward long-time rival China and started berating traditional ally the United States.
He had previously played down the arbitration case, saying it would “take a back seat” during his talks in China in October.
Duterte likewise praised Beijing and said he wanted it to play a prominent role in the Philippine economy.
Duterte, who earlier said he was willing to share oil resources with China, told China to respect the Philippines as a country it shared economic bounties with.
“Wait a minute, I thought we [were] friends,” Duterte said, addressing China. “We share economic bounties, so how about us?”
Manila and Beijing are both laying claim to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are also contested by Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The US Navy has maintained its presence in the region because it wants to uphold freedom of navigation in the area.