Duterte says Xi Jinping offered him an oil and gas deal to ignore South China Sea ruling

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

China's One Belt, One Road bribe diplomacy in action. 

Will wait to see if Duterte can successfully be bribed by Xi, or if Hotheaded Duterte will bluntly tell Xi to go f*ck himself.

Unfortunately, this is being reported by CNN Philippines, so the level of accurate reporting is probably pretty low.

Duterte says Xi Jinping offered him an oil and gas deal to ignore South China Sea ruling

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he has been offered a controlling stake in a joint energy deal by Chinese President Xi Jinping in exchange for ignoring an international arbitration in Manila's favor on the South China Sea.

In 2016, a tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

Speaking to reporters in the Philippines on Tuesday, Duterte said that Xi had promised him a majority stake in a joint oil and gas exploration venture that could fall within Manila's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), if the Philippines ignores the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

"Set aside the arbitral ruling," Duterte said, quoting Xi. "Set aside your claim. Then allow everybody connected with the Chinese companies. They want to explore and if there is something, they said, we would be gracious enough to give you 60%, they will only get 40%. That is the promise of Xi Jinping," Duterte reportedly said.  ...

 

 

... At a Wednesday press briefing, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying didn't comment directly on the reported offer, but said the Philippines was "ready to expedite cooperation with China in the joint exploitation of oil and gas."

"The two sides announced the establishment of an intergovernmental joint steering committee and a working group between relevant enterprises from the two countries on oil and gas cooperation," she said.