President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he would set aside the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal issue for now. He is scheduled to visit China from Oct. 18 to 21 to strengthen the ties between Manila and Beijing.
1. We cannot win.
With the current armaments system of the country’s Defense Department, Duterte sees the Philippines has no match with Beijing. He previously said “it would be a slaughter” once Manila engaged in war.
“I will visit China. I have a good feeling that we will be OK with them. But first let’s not touch the Scarborough Shoal issue because we cannot win that,” he said in Filipion during a speech to residents of Lamitan, Basilan province.
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