The fishing rights of Filipino fishermen in the disputed South China is expected to be on top of the agenda of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte when he makes his first official state visit to China in the third week of October.

Duterte will stop in Beijing for a two-day visit after traveling to Vietnam. During his stay in Beijing, the vocal Philippine leader is expected to raise the Permanent Court of Arbitration's (PCA) ruling in July which dismissed China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Like Us on Facebook

Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said China-Philippine talks would tackle the fishing rights of Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal which the arbitration court ruled that no one country has legal rights over.

Demand

Wu said that although the talks over the Scarborough Shoal would help decrease the escalating tensions among claimants in the South China Sea region, China would not automatically grant Duterte's demand.

"China would not necessarily give the Philippines fishing access near the Scarborough Shoal as they demand," Wu said.

Over the past few months, Filipino fishermen have complained about being shooed away by the Chinese Coast Guard who used water cannons on them in the Scarborough Shoal.

State visit

"China wants to develop ­crisis management plans with Manila, and is willing to expand cooperation with Manila in areas not related to the disputed waters," Wu said.

Wu had earlier met with Manila's special envoy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, in ice-breaker talks in Hong Kong in August. Both sides have agreed to start laying the groundwork for Duterte's upcoming state visit to China.

The bilateral relations between China and the Philippines turned sour after Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, filed a territorial case against Beijing in 2013 before the Hague-based PCA.

Beijing refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the arbitration court and dismissed its ruling as "illegal" and "null and void."

China's President Xi Jinping had earlier said that Beijing would not accept any talks, actions, and propositions by any nation based on the PCA's ruling. 

TagsSouth China Sea, Fishing rights, Filipino fishermen, President Rodrigo Duterte, Scarborough Shoal, china, bilateral talks