Daily Times

BEIJING: China said Tuesday that it hopes to work with the Philippines’ new government to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea, but insisted the onus is on Manila to lower tensions. Beijing hopes the Philippines will “meet China halfway, taking concrete measures to properly deal with the disputes so as to put the ties of the two countries back on the track of sound development,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily news briefing. Lu said that while the two countries have a traditional friendship, bilateral relations have been “hit by major setbacks in recent years, due to reasons known to all” — a reference to moves by the Philippines to assert its claims and activities by the U.S. challenging China’s actions. Beijing and Manila have for years accused one another of infringing on each other’s territory in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety. Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has said he would negotiate directly with China on the dispute, aligning with China’s stance, as reiterated by Lu, that disputes “should be properly settled by countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation while respecting the historical facts and international law.” However, Duterte has also said that if negotiations fail, he would sail to one of China’s newly built artificial islands and plant the Philippine flag on it.