President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that he has no plans to raise the West Philippine (South China) Sea territorial dispute in the 28th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit set from Sept. 3 to 8 in Vientiane, Laos.
”I will bring only the issue when we are together face to face (with China) because if we quarrel them now and you claim sovereignty, make noise here and there, then they might not even want to talk,” President said in a media interview at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
President Duterte underscored the importance of maintaining good relation with China.
”We maintain good relation to China. Let us not create an environment where we can sit down and talk directly and that’s the time that I would say we proceed from here,” the President said.
He added that war is not an option in settling the territorial dispute in the WPS.
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