The Philippines is not giving up its claims in the South China Sea, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday in Hong Kong, after President Duterte attended the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan, China, where he and China President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their readiness to work together for mutual development. In June 2016, the Philippines won its claim to some South China Sea islands in the United Nations-backed Arbitral Court in the Hague in a case filed by former President Benigno S. Aquino III, but upon his assumption to the presidency, President Duterte opted for a policy of cooperation with China at this time. China claims sovereignty over 80 percent of the South China Sea, as defined by a nine-dash line looping around most of the sea, but intruding into the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

Our claims in the South China Sea. (2018, May 16). Manila Bulletin, p. 8.