Philippines' Duterte issues gag order over South China Sea

President Rodrigo Duterte

* Officials banned from talking publicly on South China Sea * Duterte says maritime patrols will continue * Gag order may show more coherent strategy: expert Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has barred his cabinet from talking about the South China Sea in public, but said the gag order did not mean the country was wavering in its defence of its sovereign rights. His decision follows weeks of strong rebukes of China by his ministers over the presence of hundreds of fishing vessels in the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), fuelling tensions that have gone against Duterte's policy of rapprochement and non-confrontation with Beijing. ‘This is my order now to the cabinet, and to all and sundry talking for the government, to refrain from discussing the West Philippine Sea with anybody,’ Duterte said in a televised address, using the local name for its EEZ.