President Rodrigo Duterte said he invited China to send warship to visit after Chinese Foreign Ministry dismissed report about plan to build station an in disputed waters
China said on Friday it was in touch with the Philippines about the possible visit of a Chinese naval ship to the country. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday he had invited China to send a battleship to visit. Duterte’s invitation was announced soon after Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed a report about the country’s plan to build an environmental monitoring station in disputed waters near Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea. His overtures towards a country long regarded by Manila as a maritime aggressor have marked an astonishing foreign policy shake-up, and Duterte made a landmark visit to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said military exchanges between the two countries were an important part of their relations.
