MANILA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Philippine experts on Monday urged incoming president Rodrigo Duterte to proceed with direct talks with China on the South China Sea immediately, saying the new administration need not wait for the decision of a tribunal to kick-start the talks.
Rod Kapunan, a columnist for the newspaper The Standard, said it may not be wise for the incoming Duterte administration to wait for a decision from an tribunal in The Hague which China will not recognize anyway.
"Once the court comes out with a decision, our position to reach a direct and peaceful settlement of our dispute with China would become more difficult," Kapunan told Xinhua in an interview.
"China has always been open for direct and peaceful negotiations but the conditions will not be the same after the decision," he said, warning that the decision might even force Beijing to stay away from the negotiating table.
"If you are going to negotiate directly and peacefully with China after the arbitration decision comes out, China will surely insist that there must be no reference to the court's decision," Kapunan said.
In 2013, the Philippines initiated an arbitration case against China over the South China Sea. China, which has declined to take part in the process, has said it will not recognize the court's decision.
For the direct talks to take off, Kapunan said the Duterte administration must scrap its Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed by the Philippines and the United States in 2014.
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