The brash
Philippine leader last week announced his plan to raise the
Philippine flag in the island of Thitu and fortify it with
barracks, setting off alarm bells.
"Because of our friendship with China and because we value your
friendship I will not go there to raise the Philippine flag,"
Duterte said in a speech before the Filipino community in Riyadh
late Wednesday.
"They said, do not go there in the meantime, just do not go
there please. I will correct myself because we value our
friendship with China," he said, adding that he might just send
his son to the island.
China claims most of the South China Sea through which about $5
trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually. Brunei, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
(http://tmsnrt.rs/1GHW1LC)
Duterte said Beijing warned him that "there will likely be
trouble" if every head of state of contending parties will go to
the disputed islands and plant flags.
The popular president is on a week-long state visit in the
Middle East to facilitate trade and investments, and meet with
Filipinos overseas. The Middle East is the second largest source
of remittances, with more than one million Filipino workers
sending home $7.6 billion in last year, government data showed.
Duterte, who led the warming of ties with China, had blamed the
United States for the current maritime tensions for not
intervening to stop China building and arming artificial islands
in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
The Philippines will reinforce, but not militarize, areas in the
South China Sea controlled by Manila to maintain the
geopolitical balance, Duterte said on Monday.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Michael Perry)
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