BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- As the farce of arbitration on the South China Sea is to end soon, it is time for the new Philippine government of Rodrigo Duterte to stop the wrong foreign policy of its predecessor, so as to bring China-Philippines ties back to the track of sound development.
Since Duterte assumed presidency on Thursday, sparks of hope have arisen for resumption of sound development of relations between China and the Philippines after bilateral ties seriously deteriorated during the rule of former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
In 2013, the government of Aquino III filed a case of arbitration with the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration over territorial disputes between China and the Philippines on the South China Sea, stoking tensions in the South China Sea region.
On June 29 -- just a day before the assumption of presidency by Duterte, the Permanent Court of Arbitration announced that an arbitral award in the case initiated by the Philippines against China will be issued on July 12, meaning that the farce of arbitration started by the government of Aquino III will come to an end in days.
Since winning the election, Duterte has made a series of overtures on China-Philippines relations, signaling that improvement of relations with China would be a foreign policy priority of his government, in sharp contrast to the wrong foreign policy pursued by the former government.
As whoever started the trouble should be responsible for settling it, any substantial improvement of relations between China and the Philippines under the current situation actually depends on efforts of the Philippine side. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the new Philippine government will be able to play the role of settling the trouble left over by the former government, how long it will take before the new Philippine government can shake off the burden of wrong diplomacy created by its predecessor, how much efforts it will make in this endeavor, and how it will face the serious harm caused by the farce of arbitration to China-Philippines relations.
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