A boycott of Chinese products will not work, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Wednesday, after Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri called for one in response to China’s continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
“I think we have to look at this issue on a broader scale. I don’t think that in the history of the world, that boycott will work. That has been proven many times in the history of nations,” Balisacan said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
Balisacan said issues should always be settled with diplomacy.
“As the President said, we are an enemy to none, a friend to all. Let’s keep it that way,” Balisacan said.
After the Aug. 5 incident in which Chinese vessels fired water cannons at Filipino boats trying to resupply the Marines on the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Zubiri called for a boycott of Chinese companies and said Filipinos should boycott products from China as some countries in the region have done.
But the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) warned that the economy would suffer if the Philippines boycotts Chinese products.
Aside from a boycott, Zubiri said the government should also not award big-ticket infrastructure projects to Chinese contractors and state-owned companies, as this would mean Filipino taxpayers were unwittingly funding China’s illegal incursions and harassment of Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has many projects with Chinese state-owned companies, he said.
“They’re doing nothing except bullying our countrymen in the West Philippines Sea,” Zubiri said. “Sw we can get back at them. Let us blacklist their companies.”
He urged the DPWH to award big-ticket projects to “friendlier” countries such as Japan and South Korea, which have been providing development aid to the Philippines.
Earlier, Zubiri chided China for declaring friendship with the Philippines but doing exactly the opposite in the WPS. In standing up to China, Zubiri said the country can follow Vietnam’s example, which is to replace China as its top trading partner.
He said the Philippines can execute trade agreements with other countries or enhance existing ones to compensate for the decision to drop China as a trading partner.
According to available data, the value of Philippine exports to China stands at $15.1 billion or P830.5 billion, comprising 16 percent of the country’s total exports. The value of imports, meanwhile, is pegged at $48.9 billion or P2.7 trillion, or 33.8 percent of the total imports.
This means that the Philippines has a trade imbalance of $33.8 billion in favor of China.