- Tensions have flared over the contested South China Sea
- Duterte asks FVR to head negotiations with China
- Duterte underscored the importance of such talks considering that much investments from China may flow to the island of Mindanao
Filipinos anxiously await the immediate and long-term outcome of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s move to take the diplomatic route, possibly through a bilateral agreement, in easing the tension created by China’s refusal to recognize the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea ruling that decided in favor of the Philippines in the territorial dispute over the West Philippine Sea.
The President formally announced recently that former President Fidel V. Ramos will lead the diplomatic initiative; a clear capitulation to China’s position that bilateral talks between the two countries, instead of an imposition of the UNCLOS decision, can better resolve the issue.
China, in insisting on its historic rights over the South China Sea, encompassing the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal, has fortified its claim with a naval and military presence; constructing permanent structures in the area and barring Filipino fishermen from its rich fishing grounds.
While much hope was pinned on the backing of the United States, and now the arbitral judgment from the international tribunal, the Philippines has apparently softened its original stance; agreeing that “peaceful talks are the only way to go” and with President Duterte himself saying that “war is not an option.”
With former president Ramos as the country’s special envoy in the projected talks with China, on the other hand, the move opens up the possibility of “having a settlement with them (China) … and get many benefits.”
President Duterte, himself, said should Ramos succeed in repairing the strained ties between the two countries, “much investments from China may flow to the island of Mindanao.”
“It’s China that has money, not America. America doesn’t have money, so I pray that we are able to solve our fundamental problem, the China Sea,” President Duterte said.
The Philippine-China bilateral talks have yet to be confirmed, but it has already been made clear that negotiations will proceed without taking into account the international tribunal’s recent ruling.
Setting aside the UNCLOS decision in the proposed bilateral talks is a condition imposed by China.
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