MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has discussed with Vietnam‘s leader efforts by their countries to delineate their maritime boundaries in the disputed South China Sea, most of which is claimed by China.

Duterte said Friday, without elaborating, that he told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in a meeting in Indonesia that such boundary talks may take longer because the Philippines is still establishing its continental shelf limit, or the country’s outermost boundary.
 

Vietnam initiated the on-and-off talks years ago.

Carl Thayer of the University of New South Wales, Canberra, says China will likely object to the talks because Beijing claims all the land features and adjacent waters in the strategic waterway where the Philippines and Vietnam would define their maritime boundaries. (Yonhap)