China may give Filipino fishermen access to Scarborough – sources
China will consider giving Filipino fishermen conditional access to disputed waters in the South China Sea after the presidents of the two countries meet in Beijing this week, two Chinese sources with ties to the leadership said. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plans to raise the plight of Filipino fishermen when he meets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on October 20, a Philippine official told Reuters. China seized Scarborough Shoal – claimed by Beijing as Huangyan island and by Manila as Panatag – in 2012, denying Philippine fishermen access to its rich fishing grounds. The seizure formed part of a case the Philippines took to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which in July rejected China’s territorial claims over much of the South China Sea, including its assertion of a 320 km exclusive economic zone around the disputed Spratly Islands. China immediately declared the ruling “null and void” but said it was time to get talks started again between the countries directly involved in the territorial disputes to reach a peaceful resolution.
