Philippines rejects China's terms for South China Sea talks

Manila

THE Philippines rejected China's request for talks on their South China Sea dispute because it asked Manila to "disregard" a court ruling on the issue, the foreign minister said on Tuesday.

A UN-backed tribunal said last week that there was no legal basis for China's claims to most of the strategic, resource-rich waters, with Beijing staunchly denouncing the decision.

"They asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and in disregard of the arbitral ruling, s…