China hoping to rebuild ties with Philippines after angry backlash over sinking of fishing boat in South China Sea
- President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest visit to Beijing offers a chance to mend fences but he must also defuse domestic anger over the Reef Bank incident
- Philippine leader has said he will raise South China Sea dispute with Xi Jinping as he comes under increasing pressure from opposition politicians
China is seeking to repair relations with the Philippines ahead of a visit by President Rodrigo Duterte after a recent collision between two ships in the South China Sea resulted in the sinking of a Philippine fishing boat.
Observers said the visit could be a fence-mending exercise after the incident, in which a Chinese trawler was accused of ramming the other ship before it fled the scene, leaving 22 Filipino fishermen in the sea until a passing Vietnamese boat came to the rescue.
The incident near Reef Bank triggered a strong backlash in the Philippines, and opposition politicians demanded a stronger response to China’s increasingly assertive stance after years of increasingly warm ties under Duterte.
The visit to Beijing will be his fifth as president and he said he would use it to address all South China Sea issues, including a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal that rejected China’s claim to the waters.
The decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016 triggered a serious diplomatic crisis until Duterte, who came to power a month before the ruling was delivered, visited Beijing and said he would “set aside” the ruling.