PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte canceled the China trip of former President Fidel Ramos after the latter set certain conditions that Beijing might reject, an administration source told the Manila Standard Wednesday.
Ramos, who was appointed by the President as the special envoy to China, advised Duterte not to push through with his presidential visit to Beijing if a consensus was not reached.
While Ramos has not made any statement about the cancellation of his trip, Duterte will still push through with his visit to Beijing next week.
“It’s not clear whether the terms of the visit are still on the table,” the source who asked not be named said.
On Monday, Duterte said he would likely not dwell on the Philippines’ territorial claims in the South China Sea.
“Let’s not dwell on Scarborough Shoal because we don’t have the capabilities. Even if we express anger, it will just amount to nothing. We can’t back it up,” Duterte said in Filipino before local government officials in Lamitan, Basilan.
In a recent report published in Manila Standard, a foreign affairs source claimed that the problem was that the advisers who surround Duterte “also think like him.”
“He needs an adviser who can calm his temper. That can only happen if you have a good pool of people not only competent, but with diverse opinion,” the foreign affairs insider said.
Two administration sources confirmed that Duterte is unlikely to discuss the Philippines’ claim over the West Philippine Sea.
In a text message, another official who is privy on Duterte’s official visit to China said that the President will instead ask Xi to help the Philippines in its bloody war against alleged drug users and dealers.
The source also reiterated Duterte’s earlier statement that fishing rights at the Scarborough Shoal are likely be discussed.
The source added that Duterte will not raise as yet the decision by a UN tribunal that threw out China’s claims to almost the entire South China Sea in favor of the Philippines.
On Tuesday, both Ramos and Senior Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio scored the Duterte administration’s anti-American foreign and military policy and urged President Rodrigo Duterte to stand for real independence and defend the country’s territorial integrity.
Ramos, an alumni of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, said Duterte must learn to reach beyond his personal biases and think of his duties as being a responsibility to future Filipino generations.
“I hope he shows more leadership in our lives. Not only in drugs,” Ramos said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel.
“Although removing the drug menace is one of [the country’s biggest problems], it is not the whole thing,” said the 88-year-old Ramos, who was president from 1992 to 1998.
“I am sorry to say this, President Duterte, my President, our President. That is 20th century thinking. We are now in the 21st century,” Ramos said, apparently referring to Duterte’s references to US atrocities in the Philippines in the early 20th century.
Carpio, on the other hand, urged Duterte to understand the importance of holding patrols within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone during a speech at the closing of amphibious exercises with the United States on Tuesday.
Ramos, whom Duterte credited for convincing him to run for president, said looking to the aspirations of the young and not the historical past should be the mindset of a leader.
“That must not be the mentality of leaders these days,” Ramos said, suggesting that if Duterte can show pictures of Moros killed by Americans, future Filipinos can also show pictures of Filipinos killed by Filipinos, like the Ampatuan, Maguindanao massacre of November 2009.
China claims 90 percent or the whole South China Sea as its own, citing the nine-dash line of its ancient Chinese map.
Aside from the Philippines, parts of the South China Sea are also claimed by other members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nation including Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
On July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled in favor of the Philippines deciding that China is illegally claiming and continuously destroying the marine environment of the disputed sea.