By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS, VERA Files
President Rodrigo Duterte will not initiate and will instead let Chinese President Xi Jinping to take the lead on whether the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration will be discussed in their meeting today.
In a press conference in Wednesday night with Beijing-based media, on the eve of his meeting with Xi, Duterte said, “As a friend, and I would say this now, if he (Xi) mentions it in passing I will just say, Mr. President I don’t want to make hardline position. I don’t want to ask you to do it now because there will be a time that we shall be doing it. But I have to wait for your President to mention it in passing for me to respond.”
Duterte said the talking points will be broad enough to accommodate all issues but out of courtesy, the “oriental way” he would wait for the right time. He said the general outline of the agenda was reached in the preliminary talks between Philippines Foreign Secretary and his Chinese counterpart.