PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he will try to smooth Beijing’s ruffled feathers after the abrupt cancellation of the visit of a Chinese official here to finalize about 40 joint projects worth billions of dollars that were agreed during Duterte’s state visit to China in October last year.
“Maybe what China understood was that [Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto] Yasay talked too much. Their Secretary of Commerce, who was supposed to be here today, canceled his trip,” Duterte said at the turnover of drug rehabilitation facilities at the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte.
“If the reason is misunderstanding, I will not deviate from my word of honor. It’s important for me that there will be a time in my presidency that I will raise the issue of the arbitral judgment with China, but not now.”
Duterte likewise defended Yasay over the “misunderstandings” with Chinese officials on the disputed waters in the South China Sea.
“I think the problem is that Secretary Yasay was misunderstood by the Chinese government. But let me assure everybody … that we will talk as friends, and we cannot go to war because we cannot afford it.
“As much as possible, the bilateral relations between the two countries … and trade and commerce between the two countries [should] greatly improve.”
Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng was scheduled to arrive in Manila on Thursday with a large delegation, only to inform their Philippine counterparts on Wednesday afternoon they would not be coming due to “urgent domestic concerns.”
But in a press conference in Beijing, China took offense at the pronouncements made by Yasay about the “grave concerns” by the Asean foreign ministers on Beijing’s move to militarize man-made islands, which was something “baffling and regrettable.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Yasay’s remarks were not consistent with Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s stand during his visit to Beijing in October 2016.
“As we have noted, Mr. Yasay’s recent remarks apparently deviate from the consensus of the two leaders,” Geng said in Beijing on Thursday.
“China finds them baffling and regrettable. We hope that Mr. Yasay can follow the consensus reached by the two leaders and the shared desire of the regional countries, exercise prudence and make concrete efforts to uphold China-Philippine relations and regional peace and stability.”
Beijing likewise announced Friday the replacement of Commerce minister Gao and the head of its top economic planning body as part of a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of the national legislature’s annual session.
The Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that top trade representative Zhong Shan would become minister of commerce while He Lifeng would take over the powerful National Development and Reform Commission.
Zhang Jun, a high-level official in the ruling Communist Party’s anti-corruption agency, was also appointed justice minister.
In the same speech, Duterte said he would never forget that it was China who sent help to the Philippines amid his war on drugs, which has been criticized by human rights groups.
He likewise assured Beijing of his promise to follow their ideological flow.
“We are not duty bound to follow the foreign policy of America. I crafted my own independent foreign policy because at this time of our lives, we cannot afford violence and go to war,” Duterte said.