Philippines rejects China conditions for sea row talks

The Philippines rejected China's request for talks on their South China Sea dispute because it asked Manila to "disregard" a court ruling on the issue, the foreign minister said Tuesday. A UN-backed tribunal said last week there was no legal basis for China's claims to most of the strategic, resource-rich waters, with Beijing staunchly denouncing the decision. "They asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and in disregard of the arbitral ruling, so this is somet