MANILA—Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo said on Oct. 23 that President Rodrigo Duterte should take a tougher line with China over its activities in the South China Sea, or risk squandering the advantage of an international arbitration award that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping sovereignty claims.
Robredo said Duterte’s argument that confronting China would lead to war was nonsense, and the Philippines would gain more from joining the United States, Australia and Britain in freedom of navigation exercises, and drafting conventions with claimants like Malaysia and Vietnam to try to isolate China.
