Duterte on talk with China’s Xi: I only remember status quo deal

DAVAO City—former President Rodrigo Duterte clarified that that his talk with China’s President Xi Jinping ended in a status quo in the West Philippine Sea.

“Aside from the fact of having a handshake with President Xi Jinping, the only thing I remember was a status quo,” he told a night briefing with reporters here at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on Thursday.

“That’s the word. Walang galawan, no movement, no armed patrols, As is where is, para walang magkagulo [to avoid trouble],” he said

He said that one item in the discussion was the non-bringing of materials to repair the rusty and ageing BRP Sierra Madre moored at the Ayungin shoal.

But he said, “there was no written agreement on that. It’s verbal,” he said.

“I do not decide on my own when there is a critical issue on hand. I call on the National Security Council,” he said

“Yes, it’s an act of the President. But I will educate you, Not all of them are mine,” he said “I cannot make a move relative to the security of the country without asking the military and the NSC.”

He said he would not keep secret anything that has become a real agreement “when we are talking about national security”.

He said he was always with his national security adviser, former Armed Forces chief, retired Gen. Eduardo Año, and who is also the current national security adviser of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Ask him if there was a gentleman’s agreement”.

“I assure you that if it was a gentleman’s agreement, it would always have been an agreement to keep the peace in the South China Sea,” he said.

He that what transpired in the meeting with China’s President was that he presented the government assertion of some part of the Spratlys and the Scarborough Shoal that, he said, Xi had flatly rejected.

“His [Xi] response was, ‘Please do not do that because there would be trouble,” he said. Duterte admitted he balked at further insisting on the issue, saying the Philippines was not prepared for openly confronting the war posturing of China.

He said the standoff in the meeting with Xi on the West Philippine Sea untimately ended in an “as is, where is” understanding, or, “that there should be no movement from either side”. He admitted that the non-bringing of construction materials to repair the rusty and ageing BRP Sierra Madre was part of the understanding.

“There was no written agreement on that. It’s verbal,” he said.

In clarifying why he opted to negotiate and talked with, rather than confronting, China on the Philippine territorial rights, he said that “this is what we Presidents do, from [Benigno] Aquino III, we talk because we have the solemn duty to protect the Filipino people”.

When asked if the “as is, where is” understanding binds even the current administration, he said “well, if they’re brave enough, they can send in the Navy, with our flag, and see what will happen”.

He dared Marcos Jr. and other prominent detractors in the sea claim issue to push with their agenda on insisting with confronting China. He said that If they insist on their agenda, the Marcos administration and his detractors may also call on the US Navy to occupy the other islands and drive the Chinese away.

Duterte said he has also told President Marcos “to do what he thinks must be done, repair the Sierra Madre now, send the Navy’s grey ships to patrol the islands and let us see what happens”.

He said the Marcos administration appears to be a “cry baby” when it was treading on the path of confrontation with China, saying that Marcos was doing it behind the “common notion” that the US “would hurry up” in defense of the Philippines.

He said “why would not the US send its Seventh Fleet and go there?” “Why wait for war before it helps the Philippines?”