President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday, October 22, that he discussed the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) with People’s Republic of China President Xi Jingping and the Filipino fishermen’s rights in the disputed waters.
However, Duterte said that their discussions were private and did not provide further details on the talk between him and Xi.
“Yes, of course [we talked about it]. I leave it to the Chinese authorities what they will do in the next few days,” explained Duterte upon arriving from his four-day state visit to China.
The President added: “But tingnan natin. Let us see what develops in the days to come.”
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This is a totally different story from what Chinese Foreign Minister Liu Zhemin said earlier about Duterte and Xi.
“The two Presidents did not mention the issue of the Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) but they did talk about the cooperation in fishery,” Liu told the media during a media briefing following the signing of 13 PH-China bilateral cooperation agreements.
“They agreed that the two countries will strengthen fishery cooperation in the South China Sea and also cooperation in terms of fishery products, industries,” Liu added.
Liu also said that China would assist the Philippines in fishery, particularly in fishery product processing and aqua-culture for the benefit of the Filipino fishermen. He added that both countries will discuss fishery cooperation further.
Since the Philippines brought China to court over its nine-dash line claim over South China Sea that overlapped with the West Philippine Sea, the Chinese Coast Guard had been blocking and harassing Filipino fishermen from getting near Scarborough Shoal. This continued even after the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines last July 12.
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, globalnation.inquirer.net)
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