President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged on Monday China's building of military bases in the disputed South China Sea.

But Duterte believed those bases were not intended for the Philippines, but for America.

Duterte made the remark in front of the Filipino Chinese community and Chinese Ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua.

"Now, there's China building structures and military bases I must admit it. But is it intended for us? You must be joking," he said.

"It's not intended for us. The contending ideological powers of the world or the geopolitics has greatly changed. It’s really intended against those who the Chinese think would destroy them and that is America," Duterte said.

Some quarters have been criticizing the Duterte administration for being soft with China on the South China Sea dispute.

Despite the Philippine government's relying on China's good faith that it would not build new structures in the disputed waters and would not militarize the area, Beijing has continued with its activities in the South China Sea.

Duterte reiterated that the Philippines would not go into war with China.

"I will not commit the lives of the Filipinos only to die unnecessarily. I will not go into a battle which I can never win," he said.

Duterte even thanked China for the weapons it donated to the Philippines during the height of the Marawi siege last year. Celerina Monte/DMS