China says Philippines should copy Malaysia's ‘amicable’ way of handling disputes in South China Sea
Manila has taken a case to an international tribunal contesting Beijing’s rival claims in the contested waters
The Philippines should emulate Malaysia and resolve its territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea in an “amicable way” instead of resorting to confrontation through “unilateral arbitration”, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, said on Monday.
Writing in an opinion piece entitled “The Way of Amicable Consultations” that appeared in Monday’s edition of The Star English-language daily, the envoy noted that while the Malaysia-China relationship was at the best time in history, the Philippines-China relationship was experiencing severe difficulties.
“The reason behind such a striking contrast lies in the different ways the two claimants chose to deal with disputes with China,” Huang said.
He praised Malaysia for its friendly and proper handling of its disputes with Beijing unlike outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino, whom he said “misjudged the international situation, acted as a pawn of an outsider’s geopolitical strategy and chose to confront China”.
“He [Aquino] became world famous as the arbitration case is a farce,” Huang wrote, referring to a pending arbitration case brought by the Philippines before an international court in The Hague.