PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that China has committed not to conduct reclamation or expansion activities on disputed territories with the Philippines and ruled out violence as an option for settling the conflict.

“China has put it on record that near the Pag-asa island and the Scarborough…China has committed to us [that they will] not to build anything there. I hope that they would honor that commitment. I really hope and pray,” said Duterte in a news conference upon his arrival in Manila on Tuesday night.