August 16, 2017

In 1986, then Philippines President Corazon Aquino met with China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to discuss the South China Sea issue.

Deng said he told Aquino, “Madam President, our generation might not be wise enough to decide the territorial dispute but there are a lot more areas of South China Sea we may discuss without discussing the territorial claims.”

The current Philippines Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano referred to Deng’s words to justify his government’s soft approach towards China on the contentious South China Sea issue during a conversation with Asean journalists in Manila recently.

Read more:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2017/08/16/make-coc-negotiations-count-many-asean-members-want-a-legally-binding-document-to-control-the-behavi/