PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will not bring up the West Philippine Sea territorial dispute with China during his six-day trip to three Asean nations starting Sept. 4, according to Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.
Andanar said the President will be making his first overseas trip through Asean, with the first leg on April 4 to Brunei Darussalam then fly on to Vientiane, Laos on Sept. 6 for the bloc’s Summit and to receive the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
From the summit, Duterte will fly on to Jakarta on Sept. 8 before returning home the day after.
As regards the West Philippine Sea issue, Duterte had said “I will only bring up the issue when we are face to face (with China).”
The Hague-based arbitration court ruled that China had no historic title over the WPS. China refused to honor the ruling.
Aside from the Philippines, other Southeast Asian nations that have claims in the WPS are Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Andanar also confirmed that Duterte will be making his first trip outside of Asia at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima, Peru with a possible side trip to San Francisco, California in the United States to meet with the Filipino community there.