The ships arrived at the Mindanao island city on Sunday, and the next day Duterte boarded the Chang Chun missile destroyer. It is the first port of call China has made in the Philippines since 2010.
In a statement the Philippines navy explained the ships are in Davao for a three-day visit, which is set to include “Goodwill games” between Chinese and Filipino troops featuring tug-of-war and basketball.
Just a day before, Duterte issued a chairman’s statement at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, taking a softened stance on China’s expansion in the hotly contested South China Sea. References to China’s "land reclamation and militarization" included in last year’s statement were omitted.
The document avoided confrontational language and spoke of "the improving cooperation between ASEAN and China."
Though it is known that Beijing applies pressure to the regional body in its national interest, one unnamed Philippines diplomat told Reuters that was not the impetus for this statement.
"There are one or two member countries which lobbied for some changes in some text in the statement, but not related to the South China Sea," they said.
Though some member states originally wanted stronger language in the statement, an ASEAN official said the compromising tone was mutually agreed upon. "We respected the Philippines' views and cooperated … It clearly reflected how the issue was discussed."
Since his election last year, Duterte has deemphasized Manila’s issues with China in the South China Sea, as Beijing completely disregarded a Hague ruling last year that invalidated its expansive claims in the region, a case brought by the Philippines under former President Benigno Aquino III.
Duterte disregarded the ruling himself, only stating that there are "concerns expressed by some leaders over recent developments in the area."
The former Davao City mayor said there was really no point in confronting China about these issues as none of the ASEAN members had the resources to stop them.
But former Philippines military officer and opposition lawmaker Gary Alejano remarked that the statement had more to do with kowtowing to Beijing than establishing foreign policy, saying that China "won by convincing Duterte not to include any statement about the (international) ruling … To make matters worse, Duterte even visited the Chinese warships. That only shows the president is trying everything to appease China," according to the South China Morning Post.
