Philippine's Duterte pulls back from Spratlys flag vow

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday pulled back from a vow to place his country's flag on an island in the Spratlys chain claimed by China and other regional states."Because of our friendship with China and because we value your friendship I will not go there to raise the Philippine flag," he told about 2,000 Filipinos during an official visit to Saudi Arabia.Pag-asa (Hope) is the Philippine name for "Thitu island" in the Spratlys, the largest of the islands occupied by the Philipp