Aquino Signs China Trade Deal as Philippines Plays Down Dispute

Philippine President Benigno Aquino and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao signed an agreement targeting $60 billion in trade and investment as the Philippines played down a dispute over the South China Sea.

Aquino told Hu the conflict over oil and gas in the contested waters “requires a regional solution,” Edwin Lacierda, Aquino’s spokesman, told reporters in Beijing after the meeting. The South China Sea issue “is not the be-all and end-all of Philippine-China relations,” he said. China, which claims almost all the sea, has opposed moves to broker a regional accord and prefers to negotiate with individual claimants.