BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and VICTOR REYES
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday said the Philippines maintains its relations with China despite issues and challenges, contrary to talks that the country has allied itself with other world powers.
The President, who said the other day that the Philippines would maintain a neutral foreign policy, said there were some sectors who have been claiming the country has been steering away from China as it gets closer to other bigger countries.
He said while things are evolving in the world, maintaining good relationships with all remains the important thing.
“Simply because the world around us is changing, but it hasn’t changed in any fundamental sense. Some people have said that the Philippines had shifted its policy away from the People’s Republic of China and to other powers, that is certainly not true. We have not shifted away from China in any way, whatsoever. We continue to foster the friendship, the relationship, the partnership that we have been developing with China since 1974 and 1975 when it became official,” he said in an interview after ceremonies for the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding (APPCU) at the Manila Hotel.
Marcos said differences between the Philippines and China do not define the relationship of the two countries which he said continue to “search to find solutions to the challenges that we face jointly.”
“It is something that we will continue to work to resolve and to make sure that the peace and the safe passage across the South China Sea, the West Philippine Sea is assured and we look to China as partner in that effort to keep the peace and to keep the trade that is so important to this part of the world alive and vibrant,” he added.
China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea including the West Philippine Sea while the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are claiming parts of it.
In the past months, China has increased activities in the disputed waters and several Chinese vessels have been seen in the areas being claimed by the Philippines. Filipino vessels, including fishing vessels, had also been blocked by Chinese boats.
COMMUNICATION LINES
The President said the Philippines and China have been working to establish communication lines to avoid possible conflict in the disputed waters and ensure the smooth passage of vessels especially for trade in the disputed waters.
Marcos said updates would soon be reported by the two countries.
“Slowly, the process that we began after my visit to President Xi and to China in January, we have developed those concepts, the concept of communication, the issues about the fishing grounds, all of these things are continuing and we perhaps soon, we will be able to report and this is the way that we strengthen this relationship that we have with China,” he said.
“Whatever else happens, this relationship, again, will not be defined by the differences but by our common areas of interests and our common beliefs, and the similarities in our cultures which both countries will understand very well. I think that is a very fertile ground to build, to plant our relationship and keep it growing,” he added.
The President during the APPCU ceremony expressed “bright optimism” for Philippine-China ties.
Among the APPCU awardees was former President Rodrigo Duterte who received the Hall of Fame award for promoting Philippine-China relations.
Duterte, however, skipped the event and was represented by his former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. Duterte is seen to have led the Philippines toward China and away from the United States.
Marcos lauded Duterte for his “strong leadership and for all that he has done in building a more resilient nation.”
He also recognized the efforts of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in rejuvenating the APPCU organization and for her contributions in “maintaining mutual understanding between our two countries.”
MISUSE
New Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr said the country not will not allow the “misuse” of the PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States amid the growing tension between the US and China in the Taiwan Strait.
In a TV interview on Wednesday night, Teodoro said the government can stop the US from using Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the Philippines to push its interest in Taiwan which China considers as its province.
“We will be remiss in our duties if we allow the misuse of our Mutual Defense Treaty to the prejudice of Philippine interest,” said Teodoro, who assumed the top DND post last Wednesday.
China has criticized the recent addition of four Philippine sites which can be accessed by American troops, under the EDCA. The agreement was signed by the two countries in 2014 in furtherance of the 1951 MDT.
China has said the US intends to take advantage of the EDCA sites, now totaling nine, to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals.
NO PUPPET
On June 3, a Chinese Navy ship maneuvered in an “unsafe manner” near a US destroyer while transiting the Taiwan Strait. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the act “violated the maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters.”
“That’s why it’s incumbent upon us, security officials, to make sure that no misinterpretation or misuse in our alliances occurs. That is on us if we are remiss or careless,” said Teodoro.
“We also do not involve ourselves in disputes between other countries. The Philippines should protect its own interests and ours first, without being forced or without being named as a puppet of this or a puppet of that,” said Teodoro.
Teodoro said Philippines is “important” not only to the US but also China. “It is important to other countries too,” said Teodoro.
“So as a valued proposition in itself, we have to articulate that we are responsible, we are mature, we are not puppets to anyone and would fall into the trap of siding with one camp or the other,” said Teodoro.
Teodoro also said he does not subscribe to the theory that EDCA sites will be magnet for Chinese attacks.
“It also depends if they (Chinese) trust us. They should be willing to give us that modicum of bona fides that we mean what we say and we will do what we say,” said Teodoro.
Teodoro said if countries are sincere in having good relations with the Philippines, “they have to give us a modicum of trust, that we are responsible and we are not puppets of anyone.”
JOINT PATROL
On the possibility of having a military exercise with China, Teodoro told a radio interview yesterday that it is not only he who will decide on the matter.
The conduct of military exercises between Philippines and China was first broached during the Duterte administration but it did not materialize. Philippines has no visiting forces agreement (VFA) with China.
Nevertheless, Teodoro said there might be nothing wrong with such exercise if these are “confidence-building and trust training” exercises.
“If this serves the interest of Filipinos and it’s decided, naturally by the President and by the whole security cluster, we (defense and military establishments) are going to follow,” he said.
“This should be carefully discussed and I cannot answer it with yes or no based on my own opinion,” said Teodoro on holding of military exercises with China.
Filipino troops have been holding exercises with several countries over the past years, including US and Australia which have VFA and Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, respectively, with Philippines.
DEFENSE ACT
Teodoro said he wants a new National Defense Act that will pave the way for recruitment of more personnel, develop skills, and acquisition of equipment for the defense department.
“What we would to happen is to have a new Department of National Defense Act which will allow us to hire people with requisite skills, requisite plantilla,” Teodoro told a radio interview.
Teodoro said the DND only has 320 workers catering to about a million of stakeholders. He said some positions at the DND are not filled because the salary grades for these posts are low.
Teodoro did not say how many people should be manning the defense department but said the current situation should not go on.
“People are doing a heroes’ job, uncompensated and unrewarded. Money is not important is but the career track is important, the security of your family, the value of what you are doing,” said Teodoro.
Teodoro said DND personnel should be given the chance to do their job easier and “with the best equipment, with the best decision-making skills and tools so that everybody is serviced properly.”
He said he wants to develop nuclear scientists, noting that “everybody is talking about nuclear power now,” and experts on cyber security, geopolitics, and international relations, among others,
Under the 1939 National Defense Act, several agencies are under the DND, the largest of which is the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Teodoro said he inquired yesterday about the tasks being performed by the DND, the period required these usually normally accomplished, and the number of people involved in such tasks.
He said this is to give him an “empirical data” as to the additional manpower needed. He said the personnel who will be hired are not ordinary civil servants, noting they require “top security clearance” because they will be working with the defense department.
“Just imagine, it’s (DND’s) capital outlay is zero. So you cannot manage an organization this way,” said Teodoro.
After gathering all the necessary data, Teodoro said he will present the need to have a new National Defense Act before the Cabinet and later on for the decision of the President.
“I am going to request to make this a priority bill of our President,” said Teodoro.
