Aarangkada ang bilateral talks sa pagitan ng Pilipinas at China patungkol sa mga pinag-aagawang teritoryo sa West Philippine Sea kilala rin na South China Sea.

Ito ang inanunsyo ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa kanyang arrival statement sa F. Ba­ngoy International Airport, Davao City kahapon, Martes, Mayo 16, matapos ang official visits nito sa Cambodia, Hong Kong at China.

Ayon sa Pangulo magsisimula ang bilateral consultation bago magtapos ang buwan ng Mayo.

“We looked forward to the inaugural meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea later this month. This is one step forward in peacefully managing disputes,” paghahayag ng Pangulo.

Binanggit naman ni Pangulong Duterte sa presscon na hindi pa sa ngayon igigiit ang arbitral ruling.

Ito ay sa kabila ng ikinakasang bilateral talks patungkol sa maritime dispute.

“One is not really the safety measure that you are talking about. The safety measure is that when you avoid trouble.

We avoid violence and we avoid war because frankly we cannot afford it and China cannot ­afford it also at this time. Masisira tayong dalawa,” paliwanag nito.

“Now, there is a dispute and my last meeting was with the Premier and — before we boarded the plane — si (Chinese) President Xi Jinping. And we decided that there’s a time to raise… There is a time for me to ask about the arbitral ruling but it is not now.

We have to go into the mechanics of… We have to have an agenda, the structure of the meeting and the way how to present our case to them first because ano tayo eh, we agreed to talk and to have a dialogue.

Now, maybe at some future time these things will crop up. And you cannot avoid it because there is the ­arbitral ruling,” dagdag ng Pangulo.

Sa huli, ayon pa sa Pangulo, ay laging mananaig ang usaping legal.