Philippines says it rejected China offer of talks on South China Sea

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The Philippines has turned down a Chinese proposal to start bilateral talks on their South China Sea dispute, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, because of Beijing's pre-condition of not discussing a court ruling that nullified most of its claims.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

Perfecto Yasay said he had met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Mongolia at the weekend and after raising the topic of last week's ruling, it became clear that was a no-go area.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday night that the two ministers had "informal contact" in Mongolia.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-ruling-philippines-idUSKCN0ZZ027?il=0

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1. Philippines rejects China offer of conditional dialogue on Sea dispute

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines has turned down a Chinese proposal to start bilateral talks, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, because of Beijing’s pre-condition of not discussing a court ruling that nullified most of its South China Sea claims.

Perfecto Yasay said he had met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a summit of Asian and European leaders on the weekend and after raising the topic of last week’s ruling, it became clear that was a no-go area.

China has angrily rejected the verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the initial case as illegal and farcical. It has repeatedly said it will not change its approach or its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

“They said if you will insist on the ruling, discussing it along those lines, then we might be headed for a confrontation,” Yasay said during an interview with the news channel of broadcaster ABS-CBN.

http://atimes.com/2016/07/philippines-rejects-china-offer-of-conditional-dialogue-on-south-china-sea-dispute/

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2. Philippine top court dismisses graft case against ex-leader Arroyo [AFP News]

The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a long-running corruption case against jailed former president Gloria Arroyo and ordered her immediate release after almost five years in detention.

The 69-year-old, who was in office from 2001-2010, could be freed later Tuesday from the Manila government hospital where she has been held since her November 2011 arrest, her lawyers said.

The case against Arroyo and a co-defendant was dismissed "for insufficiency of evidence", Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te told reporters.

Arroyo was accused of stealing 366 million pesos ($8.8 million) in state lottery funds meant for charity programmes while she was in office.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/philippine-top-court-dismisses-graft-case-against-ex-074709018.html?nhp=1