The Philippines rejected China’s request for talks on their South China Sea dispute because it asked Manila to “disregard” a court ruling on the issue, the Foreign Minister said on Tuesday.
A UN-backed tribunal said last week there was no legal basis for China’s claims to most of the strategic, resource-rich waters, with Beijing staunchly denouncing the decision.
“They asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and in disregard of the arbitral ruling, so this is something that I told him was not consistent with our constitution and our national interest,” Perfecto Yasay said.
The foreign secretary, interviewed by broadcaster ABS-CBN, said he and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed the possibility of bilateral talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in Mongolia last weekend but made no headway.