Duterte Was 'Apologetic' When He Brought Up Spratly Islands With China's Xi

On Sunday, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo quoted Duterte as telling Xi, “I didn’t want to alarm you with what I’m about to raise because of your problem in Hong Kong, which is why I’m asking for forgiveness, but I need to say this because I promised my countrymen.” The Chinese leader’s response, according to Panelo was, “I understand, and I am OK with it” while continuing to deny the arbitral ruling.

From the International Business Times.


UPDATE: But PHL Foreign Secretary says it did not happen.

Damage control. I trust Panelo more on this one.

Foreign Sec. TeddyBoy Locsin: West PH Sea gas exploration has to be with China 'unless other people step up'

The Philippines has to explore with China oil and gas reserves believed to be sitting deep beneath the West Philippine Sea "unless other people step up," Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Wednesday. 

Manila and Beijing, during President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to China last week, signed a deal on joint oil and gas exploration, and another on the Belt and Road infrastructure push, noted Locsin during a budget briefing before the House of Representatives' appropriations committee. 

“We’re gonna have to do it with China unless other people step up the way Shell stepped up in Malampaya before,” Locsin said, referring to the gas field off Palawan where Shell Philippines Exploration BV leads the operating consortium. 

Abs Cbn reports.

FLASHBACK: China warns Philippines to prepare for WAR if Manila drills for oil in South China Sea

Meaning, Xi will go to war against the Philippines if we drill for oil on our own without China's permission.

 

Why is there a Chinese military vessel in Reed Bank?

The question now is, why is China’s military vessel in Reed Bank?

Reed Bank is 800 nautical miles from mainland China. But it’s included in the all encompassing nine-dash-line map, which no other country recognizes.

China has always coveted Reed Bank.

Many years ago, the Philippine Navy found Chinese markers near Reed Bank.

Reed Bank was what China wanted in exchange for the massive loans that it granted the government of Gloria Arroyo who entered into the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) with China and Vietnam to explore that area.

The legality of the JMSU has been questioned before the Supreme Court which has not decided on it.

Reed Bank is not mentioned in the November 2018 PH-China Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Gas and Oil development signed by Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. But it is the understanding that it is the location of MOU, which has not yet evolved into agreement.


In 2010, under the presidency of Benigno Aquino III, the Department of Energy awarded Service Contract 72 to Forum Energy Plc. (FEP) exploration rights to a basin within Reed Bank. Manuel B. Pangilinan’s Philex owns 64.45 percent of FEP, a London-based listed oil and gas exploration firm focused on the Philippines,

Earlier seismic surveys showed that Reed Bank holds vast natural gas reserves with estimates ranging from billions to trillion cubic feet.

From Ellen Tordesillas.

Duterte to Xi Jinping: No U.S. troops on Pag-Asa Island

Source article:

In a television interview, Duterte recalled telling Xi not to waste gasoline in sending ships to Pag-asa island.

“‘Why are you surrounding my island with so many ships? You’re wasting your gasoline.’ That’s my exact words. ‘You’re wasting your gasoline. You might as well give it to us,’” the President said.

“I told you I will not allow, as long as I am President, any American to set foot on that Pag-asa. Because I know that it will create really trouble. And I will not allow their arms. If it’s a Philippine government arms given to us by America, well that’s another story. If you want, you can give us a better one,” he added.

But if China does it, it's okay? Ah, maybe because the 2019 midterm elections' over and Duterte is back to his default mode on China.

 “I told him, ‘Did I not tell you, Mr. President (Xi), that I will never allow the Americans to set foot on any of the islands controlled by the Philippines? That we will not start any war and that I will never allow American weapons to be stationed in that island?’” he said.

“Do not deprive them [Filipino fishermen] because you know we are poor. You prohibit us, you will just create the inflation to go higher,” Duterte added.

Begging?

Duterte: America Afraid Of Going To War With China, Blames Del Rosario And Aquino Admin For Losing Scarborough

Duterte says US afraid of war vs. China, calls Del Rosario stupid

War over Scarborough 'not worth it' for the US, says Duterte

and this:

Also, he blamed the Aquino administration for doing nothing.

"Why didn't the Philippine government go there at the site with its ship and ask China 'what are you doing here? You are not supposed to build artificial islands in international seas,'" Duterte said in mixed English and Cebuano.

He also lashed out at the US. "America did not also do anything. And now that the islands are built up and military facilities are war-equipped they ask me to go there."
"If I go there to show off, we will all be crushed, and my soldiers and police forces will be massacred. So, we need to negotiate unless we decide to attack China."

Moreover, he said that if we decide to challenge China, "Who will be with me? Will America do so? It won't."

He pointed out that America has failed for years to address its problem with Iran and Iraq.

"In sum, the US has not won its war in the Middle East for years. Who won? No one. The losers are the people and most of the casualties of the war were civilians —the women, the elderly, and children. That's the truth," Duterte said.

Duterte's wrong. Blame the Obama administration for weakness against China if want. And this doesnt excuse Digong from selling out to Xi Jinping.

Malacanang Palace: US could have stopped China in South China Sea

Inquirer reporting:

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang lamented on Wednesday the United States’ inaction on Beijing’s massive reclamation in the disputed South China Sea.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo issued the statement following reports of China’s continued aggression in the disputed waters, including poaching giant clams in Scarborough Shoal and deploying Chinese maritime militia near the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island.

“Well, like America is there, they could have stopped China from the inception, but they did not,” Panelo said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday.

Well, the Obama admin refused to confront China at that time just as they were afraid to confront Russia until after the 2016 elections. ☺

Teddy Locsin Walks Back Duterte Admin's Tough Talk Against China

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that now is not the “right time” to raise disagreements on disputed territories in the South China Sea, when the Philippines and China are both “hot under the collar.”

“This is actually not the right time to bring up disagreements over the South China Sea / West Philippine Sea with both sides hot under the collar while a pissing contest is in full flower,” he said in a tweet on Monday.

“But ‘swarming in unison’ is definitely not traditional fishing under any definition,” he added referring to the reported presence of Chinese vessels near Pag-asa Island.

Locsin’s tweet came days after Philippine and Chinese officials asserted their stand on the maritime dispute that has long involved the two countries.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang maintained China’s claims over the Spratly Islands, citing legal and historical basis and accounts.

SOURCE: Inquirer.

"Locsin’s tough talk can help draw attention away from the President’s lame reaction to the red dragon’s gobbling up bits and pieces of Philippine maritime areas."

Federico Pascual, on the balancing act Duterte has to do for his Chinese benefactors and Angry Filipinos, and how Teddyboy is the shiny object drawing attention from the pathetic Digong.

South China Sea: Indonesia And Vietnam Prove Duterte Wrong

...standing up to China doesn’t lead to war.

UPDATE:  Indonesian navy fires shots, seizes Chinese fishing boat near disputed South China Sea

Duterte Should Cancel His Trip To China To Protest Chinese Intrusion Into PHL Waters

 He should. Enough is enough. Otso Diretso should pressure him to cancel the trip.

Teddy Boy Locsin has been talking tough recently: DFA chief not afraid of war, says China took what is our 

The U.S.Warship Enters South China Sea with Abnormal Number of Fighter Jets in a show of force.

And after sending troops to Venezuela to bolster Maduro, Russian warships visits PHL too!

Here comes Russia, the disruptor. The West Philippine Sea is crowded enough. Over 200 Chinese ships infest it, now Duterte welcomes Russia. Every drug lord needs protectors.

Russian warships arrive in the Philippines amid rising South China Sea tensions https://t.co/f914fRi8lx

— Leah Navarro (@leahnavarro) April 9, 2019

West PH Sea: China took what is ours – Locsin

The stand is that it is ours. And they took it. World's highest court ruled that. Period. Now the question is how to take it back. I personally have no fear of war. One attack on a public vessel triggers World War 3 with the USofA which is impervious to attack from Asia. https://t.co/nOtzpgw7Jr

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) April 9, 2019

From the Inquirer:

 The West Philippine Sea is “ours” and China “took it,” Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Wednesday.

“The stand is that it is ours. And they took it. World’s highest court ruled that. Period,” Locsin tweeted in response to a Twitter user who asked for the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) stand amid the alleged invasion of China in the West Philippine Sea.

Locsin was referring to the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) which favored the Philippines after it filed a case challenging China’s sweeping claims of nearly the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.

The country’s top diplomat further said that it was now a matter of figuring out “how to take it back.”

“Now the question is how to take it back. I personally have no fear of war. One attack on a public vessel triggers World War 3 with the USofA which is impervious to attack from Asia,” he added.

Somebody should tell Duterte to tell Xi Jinping that when he visits China this month.

Duterte: China’s Xi Jinping threatened war if Philippines drills for oil in the South China Sea

From the CNNPhilippines:

 President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday that his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, had warned of war if the Philippines started to drill for oil in the contested South China Sea.

“He told me, ‘We do not want to quarrel with you. We would want to maintain the present warm relationship. But if you force the issue, we will go to war’,” Duterte said, quoting Xi in one of their recent exchanges.

Duterte said during the Philippine Coastguard Auxiliary National Convention in Davao City that Xi had insisted on the Asian giant’s centuries-old claim to the vast South China Sea as against a recent tribunal ruling.