President Duterte raised the Julian Felipe Reef incident to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian and insisted that the issue be resolved based on the rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Malacañang said yesterday. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque confirmed that Duterte and Huang met personally recently but their conversation was not limited to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) row. “And on the side, of course, the President reiterated what he said before the UN, that we are standing by and protecting our territory, that we believe it should be resolved through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and we stand by our victory at the arbitral tribunal,” Roque explained.

Romero, A., Cabrera, R., Lee-Brago, P., & Marcelo, E. (2021, March 26). Rody raises Phl reef incident to Chinese envoy. The Philippine Star, p. 2.