South China Sea: Manila and Beijing agreed to shelve dispute, ambassador says – despite Duterte’s vow to uphold ruling

Presidents Xi and Duterte had already reached a ‘consensus’ to ‘put aside’ their competing maritime claims, said Chinese envoy to Manila Huang Xilian

His comments came just days after Duterte vowed to uphold a 2016 arbitration ruling, and led one retired judge to say the president had been ‘taken for a ride’

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pictured with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last April. Photo: AP

Published: 8:36pm, 28 Sep 2020Updated: 9:31am, 29 Sep 2020

China and the Philippines have agreed to shelve their dispute over the South China Sea, according to the Chinese ambassador to Manila – who spoke mere days after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won praise from critics for vowing before the United Nations General Assembly to uphold a 2016 arbitration award that had invalidated many of Beijing’s controversial maritime claims.

Huang Xilian‘s comment at a webinar on bilateral relations on Friday come as several prominent foreign policy commentators continue to urge Duterte to push back against Beijing’s expansive nine-dash line that takes in about 90 per cent of the disputed waterway.

In his speech last Tuesday in front of the UN, Duterte said Manila “rejects attempts to undermine” the 2016 award, which he described as “part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon”.

But Huang on Friday said an “important consensus reached between President Xi Jinping and President Duterte” on “putting aside maritime disputes, managing the situation through bilateral consultations and enhancing dialogue and cooperation” had to be “vigorously implemented by both sides, so that the sound momentum of bilateral relations as guidepost to the way forward could be well preserved and enhanced”.

Huang Xilian, China’s ambassador to the Philippines. Photo: Facebook

“China’s position on the so-called arbitral ruling has been very clear: we do not accept and we do not recognise [it]. It has been agreed by our two presidents that we should close the old chapter and shelve differences,” he said, without mentioning when such an agreement had been reached.