President Rodrigo Duterte has again criticized China over its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) even as he called for a code of conduct to reduce tensions in the area.

“I love China, it has helped us a bit. But it behooves upon us to ask: Is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?” he said in a speech at the Nikkei’s 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia on Friday in Tokyo.





Stressing the need for a code, he added, “This is not a testing of waters … it is really testing who can fire the first shot. And I am sad and bewildered … because I cannot do anything.”

He also warned against US meddling in the dispute, saying, “[S]omebody should reach out to the United States, because if you leave it to them to talk nothing will happen.”

Duterte, who has courted Beijing’s favor by setting aside an international tribunal’s ruling that rejected China’s South China Sea claims, recently warned of “suicide attacks” following reports that Chinese vessels were massing off Philippine-held Pag-asa Island.

The President, however, has not dropped his criticism of the US, telling Filipinos in Japan a day earlier that the Philippines would be fine without American support.

“So, as long as we will not be left by Japan, Korea and China, we will be okay,” he told representatives of the Filipino community.

He asked Filipinos in Japan to continue toiling, as the country was good to the Philippines and its migrant workers.

“Sweat [it] out because they are kind to us and they provide us with so many things, free,” Duterte said.

“Japan is a good country … and our workers here are not offended. You are really treated here as a human being,” he added.

Duterte dismissed the US for being too “bossy” and failing to live up to promises.

“You do not have a word of honor. The country with the most word of honor, Japan,” he said.