MANILA – Amid continuing tension in the South China Sea, President Rodrigo Duterte is set to travel to Beijing next week, mainly to attend the One Belt and One Road conference.
According to the President, this forum is important to the Philippines, and will boost efforts to grow investments in the country and commerce.
This is possible, he explained, because the vision behind the concept is to help neighboring countries and expand their and China’s markets.
Duterte said he hopes that through OBOR, the Philippines’ economic development will be boosted, and this early he is already thanking China for it.
Earlier on Sunday, the President drew flak from two lawmakers – one incumbent, one former – for failing to use Manila’s chairmanship of ASEAN this year in order to push for real compliance with the UNCLOS in the South China Sea, considering it was Manila that brought the case against China’s nine-dash-line claim before a UN arbitral tribunal.
The 2017 Final Chairman’s Statement, issued Sunday morning, was seen as giving China “a pass” in the South China Sea, with its decidedly subdued tone, and omission of any reference to Beijing’s land reclamation and militarization of the area. There was also no strong push for UNCLOS enforcement.
What was viewed as a diluted version was in contrast to the 2016 Chairman’s Statement in Laos and the draft of the 2017 Statement that reporters saw on Saturday. In that draft, four ASEAN members had insisted on a stronger or a clearer call-out to China in regard to its muscling in on disputed areas in the SCS, but Beijing – to which the Duterte administration had sought to be cozy – was lobbying behind the scenes, earlier reports quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
Also on Sunday, three Chinese warships docked at Davao’s Sasa port, a historic first for both Davao and the Chinese Navy. The warships will be in the country for three days before sailing to 20 more countries on a 180-day expedition.
