Formal talks with China on South China Sea territorial dispute may start this year, according to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as he called on Beijing to open the Scarborough Shoal to Filipino fisherman.
Duterte at the press conference held in Manila saud, he would not opt to take an aggressive position but rather conduct a diplomatic talks with China.
"Very near. Within the year maybe," Duterte told reporters when asked when the Sino-Philippine formal talks would begin.
However Duterte praised Philippines' special envoy for the South China Sea negotiations, Fidel Ramos for "a very good job" during his informal meeting with Chinese officials in Hong Kong to ease tensions between two countries especially on the recent decision made by the international arbitral tribunal.
Duterte said that both parties agreed to lay the preliminaries for the upcoming formal talks to be held in Beijing.
So far, Duterte had not required China's compliance with the ruling and even chose not to talk about it before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations annual meeting to be held in Laos next month.
"It's better to continually engage China in a diplomatic dialogue rather than anger whoever the officials there and they cut completely," Duterte said.
"It's about time they should consider the privilege of the Filipinos to fish there," he added, calling on Beijing to open the Scarborough Schoal for Filipino fisherman.
China should be hearing us out now. It's about time that you lift the bans on tourists and allow the Filipinos to fish there," Duterte said.
