The visit of the Chinese vessels to Davao rather than Manila is widely seen as a personal gesture to the controversial Philippine leader<\/b>
\nPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday visited Chinese warships docked in his hometown, highlighting fast-warming relations despite competing claims in the South China Sea. The visit came a day after Duterte issued a chairman\u2019s statement on behalf of the 10-nation Asean bloc that took a soft stance towards Chinese expansionism and island-building in the Sea. Duterte boarded the missile destroyer which arrived with two other vessels in Davao City on Mindanao island on Sunday for a three-day goodwill visit. \u201cGoodwill games\u201d of basketball and tug-of-war are being staged between the Chinese sailors and their Filipino counterparts in Davao, the Philippine navy said in a statement. Duterte, elected last year, has changed foreign policy by playing down his country\u2019s territorial dispute with China over large parts of the South China Sea in favour of seeking greater economic aid and investment. In the chairman\u2019s statement, issued Sunday after he hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Manila, Duterte merely took note of \u201cconcerns expressed by some leaders over recent developments in the area\u201d. He ignored last year\u2019s international ruling outlawing China\u2019s sweeping claims to the key waterway. ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the Sea, but China insists it has sovereign rights over nearly all of it. Duterte has said the Philippines and other nations are helpless to stop the island-building, so there is no point challenging China in diplomatic and legal circles. China is not a member of the 10-nation Asean, but its ambassador to Manila worked hard to influence the tenor and content of the chairman\u2019s statement, diplomats earlier said. The visit of the Chinese vessels to Davao rather than Manila is widely seen as a personal gesture to the controversial Philippine leader. It is the first Chinese navy port call in the Philippines since 2010, the Philippine navy said. Opposition legislator Gary Alejano, a former military officer, said that in the Asean summit, \u201cthey (China) won by convincing Duterte not to include any statement about the (international) ruling\u201d. \u201cTo make matters worse, Duterte even visited the Chinese warships. That only shows the president is trying everything to appease China, \u201d the congressman said. \u201cIt is not about an independent foreign policy. It is about selling out and capitulating to China.\u201d<\/p>\n