After attempting to raise the arbitral ruling during his latest bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jin Ping, President Rodrigo Duterte has said that he is ready to ‘ignore’ the ruling in exchange of a joint oil and gas exploration with China.
Duterte said that China has agreed to a 60-40 sharing scheme as long as the Philippines would set aside its claim in the South China Sea.
“Set aside your claim. Then allow everybody connected with the Chinese companies,” Duterte said in Malacañang on Tuesday night.
“They want to explore and if there is something sabi nila, ‘We would be gracious enough to give you 60%.’ 40 lang ang kanila. That is the promise of Xi Jinping,” Duterte added.
Reportes asked Duterte if this would include the country’s economic zone, Duterte said that these area might be ‘included’ to proceed with the economic activity.
“Kasi ‘yang exclusive economic zone is part of the arbitral ruling which we will ignore to come up with an economic activity,” Duterte added.
The Philippines won its case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague debunking China’s claims of nine-dash line in the South China Sea.
Critics have repeatedly challenge the President to ‘unshelve’ the ruling after recent incidents involving China.
