Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that formal talks with China over the long-standing South China Sea territorial dispute might start this year as he called on Beijing to open the contested Scarborough Shoal to Filipino fishermen.

At a press conference held in Manila Tuesday, Duterte said he would rather conduct diplomatic talks with China over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea than take an aggressive position that would infuriate Beijing and jeopardize the chance of possible talks.

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"Very near. Within the year maybe," Duterte told reporters when asked when the Sino-Philippine formal talks would commence.

Long-simmering conflict

Duterte said Manila's special envoy for the South China Sea negotiations, Fidel Ramos, "did a very good job" during his informal meeting with Chinese officials in Hong Kong recently in a bid to ease the tensions between the two countries due to the long-simmering conflict.

Duterte said both sides have agreed to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Sino-Philippine formal talks to be held in Beijing.

Last month, an international arbitral tribunal issued a ruling invalidating China's historical claims in the South China Sea in a territorial case filed by the Philippines against Beijing in 2013.

ASEAN

The court said Beijing violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Philippines' rights to explore its resources within its exclusive economic zone.

Beijing boycotted the entire court proceedings and dismissed the ruling as "illegal" and "null and void."

So far, Duterte has not demanded China's compliance with the ruling and has chosen not to bring up the court's decision before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual meeting to be held in Laos next month.

"It's better to continually engage China in a diplomatic dialogue rather than anger whoever the officials there and they cut completely," Duterte said.

Scarborough Shoal

The Filipino leader also called on Beijing to open the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal for Filipino fishermen following the recent ruling of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) favoring the Philippines.

"It's about time they should consider the privilege of the Filipinos to fish there," he emphasized.

The disputed Scarborough Shoal is currently under the control of China after a week-long stand-off with the Philippine Navy in 2012.

"China should be hearing us out now. It's about time that you lift the bans on tourists and allow the Filipinos to fish there," Duterte said.

Water cannons

Last month, a group of Filipino fishermen claim that they were shooed away by the Chinese coast guard who used water cannons on them when they were fishing in the waters near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

Duterte said Beijing's condition that Manila will not use the international court ruling in the bilateral talks was "impossible," saying the negotiators will bring it up when they come face-to-face with Chinese officials.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had earlier said that China would not accept any actions or propositions by any nation based on the PCA'sruling. 

The Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, and Taiwan have competing territorial claims to the disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea besides China.

TagsSino-Philippine formal talks, South China Sea, Scarborough Shoal, arbitral court ruling, china