PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that China has committed not to conduct reclamation or expansion activities on disputed territories with the Philippines and ruled out violence as an option for settling the conflict. I really hope and pray,” said Duterte in a news conference upon his arrival in Manila on Tuesday night. “Other countries are also claiming islands [in the South China Sea]because each country has an [exclusive]economic zone [under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas]. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) composed of the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei and Indonesia has a non-binding Declaration of Conduct (DOC) with China on the South China Sea that was signed in 2002. Duterte was in Japan for a two-day working visit where he and Abe discussed strengthening bilateral relations.

Source: Manila Times October 31, 2017 21:56 UTC