Duterte meets with Vietnam leader over South China Sea issues

MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to thresh out maritime claims over the South China Sea, President Duterte met Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of the Leaders Gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bali, Indonesia.

Duterte said he discussed delineation of boundaries with the top Vietnam official. 

“I also met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and this has something to do with delineation of our boundaries,” Duterte said in his arrival speech from Bali.

“And I told him that in due time, but we will take a longer period for we have to establish even our continental shelf limits,” Duterte said.

Duterte attended the leaders gathering last Thursday. 

According to Duterte, the two leaders vowed to work closely in ensuring regional stability.

“We both committed to work more closely to achieve shared goals for stability in the region,” he added.

Duterte did not go into details about his talks with the Vietnamese leader.

In 2005, the Arroyo administration struck a tripartite deal for the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) among the Philippines, Vietnam and China.

The JMSU is a tripartite agreement among the Philippine National Oil Co., China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Vietnam Oil Gas Corp. or PetroVietnam regarding oil explorations in the South China Sea.

The tripartite agreement covers a total of 142,886 square kilometers. 

The Philippines and Vietnam claim parts of the South China Sea while China virtually claims the whole region.  

Manila and Hanoi had stronger relations when the Vietnamese showed subtle support for the Philippines’ landmark arbitration case against China in the South China Sea, reports said.

Duterte has remained in touch with Hanoi officials in the past ASEAN meetings even if the two countries had disagreements on the need to deal with China over the reclamation activities in South China Sea. – With Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude