CCTV — China welcomes the positive statements on the South China Sea issue made by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and hopes that China and the Philippines can go back to negotiation table to settle the disputes, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said in Beijing at a press conference Wednesday.
Liu said that China and the Philippines are neighbors facing each other across the sea with over 1,000 years of friendship. Though the Philippines is a Catholic country, parts of its traditional culture are very similar with the Chinese culture.
The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1975, and they have been able to maintain the good momentum of cooperation and development of bilateral relations, so China finds it difficult to understand why the administration of President Aquino III decided to initiate the arbitration case and infringe upon China’s rights and interests, said Liu, adding that China hopes the new Philippine government will create opportunities to improve the Sino-Philippine relations.
"We welcome the positive statements and positions upheld by President Duterte and the new Philippine government on the South China Sea issue and the arbitration case. We hope that China and the Philippines can get back to the track of negotiation to settle disputes over the South China Sea and to create better conditions for improving their relations and carrying out better cooperation," said Liu.
Liu said that China believes that the two countries will embrace new opportunities of developing bilateral relations at some point after the arbitration case. China wants to see this day come earlier, but it will be patient enough to wait for the new opportunities, he added.
The cooperation between China and the Philippines will bring tangible benefits to the people in both countries, contribute to the cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and bring stability and peace to the South China Sea and the Southeast Asia.
"State-to-state relations are like marriages, and the two sides must go toward the same direction. If the Philippines refuses to go back to the negotiation table, then certainly the bilateral relations between China and the Philippines will be undermined and the current situation will be difficult to be reversed," said Liu.
