By Noel Tarrazona
Despite international and local pressure for President Rodrigo Duterte to raise the Hague ruling on the South China Sea in the four-day ASEAN Summit in Manila, the 72-year-old Philippine leader instead defended China.
Speaking at the 30th annual Summit which ended on Saturday, he explained before the ASEAN press that there was no point discussing the U.N. ruling in the summit since the issue was only between the Philippines and China.
This came to many surprise to ASEAN leaders because the Philippines had been hosting the previous administration’s Spratly’s Claimants Meeting in Manila to discuss measures to address China’s growing infrastructure in the disputed waters. Other ASEAN countries that claim ownership of the disputed waters are Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Duterte said during a press briefing what was the purpose of discussing when you cannot do anything about it.
However, Philippine senator Panfilo Lacson also told ASEAN media that the nation should not miss out on the opportunity provided by the ASEAN summit.
Read the full story at MarEx