TO avoid further escalating tensions in the region, President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said Manila would allow Beijing to conduct innocent passage within the disputed Scarborough Shoal after the Chinese assured him that they will stop their planned construction of radar structures in the resource-rich waters.
Speaking to reporters, Duterte said that Beijing may enter the traditional fishing grounds only upon the notice of relevant Philippine authorities.
“You are free to enter—just inform my Navy. Inform the Foreign secretary,” the President said in a press briefing after a four-day official visit to Myanmar and Thailand.
“You can go there any time, I said. I told them, since you are claiming it, [and] I am claiming it, do not impede our travel there.”
“My coast guard … they can go there and visit you, shake your hands, and you can park here.”
The President added that the Chinese authorities assured him there would be no construction on Panatag Shoal—the Philippine name for Scarborough Shoal.
“I was informed that they are not going to build anything in Panatag,” Duterte said.
“Out of respect for our friendship they will stop it. Don’t worry, we are friends,” he added.
He added that China will not do anything that will jeopardize its relations with the Philippines.
Unlike the United States, Duterte said that “China has a word of honor.”
On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied reports that China will begin preparatory work this year for an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
“China places great importance on the preservation of the South China Sea’s ocean ecology, this is certain,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing.
“According to the relevant bodies in China, the reports you mention that touch upon building environmental monitoring stations on Scarborough Shoal are mistaken, these things are not true,” she added.
“With regards to Scarborough Shoal, China’s position is consistent and clear. We place great importance on China-Philippines relations.”
China seized the shoal, which is northeast of the Spratly islands, in 2012 and denied access to Philippine fishermen. But after President Rodrigo Duterte visited China last year, it allowed them to return to the traditional fishing area.
Earlier this month, Xiao Jie, the mayor of what China calls Sansha City, said Beijing planned to begin preparatory work this year to build environmental monitoring stations on a number of islands, including Scarborough Shoal.
Sansha City is the name China has given to an administrative base for the South China Sea islands and reefs it controls.
Because of his renewed ties with Beijing, Duterte said that he would no longer go to the disputed islands riding a jet ski and plant a Philippine flag there.
During the presidential debates, Duterte said he will ask the Philippine Navy to bring him to the boundary of the Spratlys so he can “ride a jet ski while bringing the Philippine flag.”
Instead, Duterte revealed that if he wishes to visit the disputed waters, the Chinese has offered to take him there onboard a helicopter.
“Why do you have to go there and look for friction if friction can cause explosion?” he said.
“I might run over sharks there. I might lose a foot,” Duterte said in jest.
Former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said he believes the government will not sacrifice its claim to its territories in the West Philippine Sea.
Estrada pointed out that Duterte was only stating the obvious when he earlier said that the Philippines cannot stop the Asian superpower from putting up structures at the disputed shoal if it wants to, a comment that earned negative reactions from his critics.
“First of all, we cannot fight China. Whatever we do, we cannot,” Estrada said.
“So as much as possible, we should talk quietly but not to the point of surrendering our claims to Panatag,” said Estrada.
In a press conference before leaving for Myanmar last Sunday, Duterte said going to war against the economic superpower would be a losing battle for the militarily weaker Philippines.
A leftist group of fishermen, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said Thursday they did not trust the Chinese statements.
A Chinese local official last week claimed that the environmental monitoring structure to be built in Paracel islands is one of Beijing’s top priorities this year. But a Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday denied the previous reports.
“The Chinese local official won’t utter a statement out of nowhere; his original pronouncement must be derived from somewhere. Beijing can only prove their sincerity on preserving the South China Sea if they concede from the international tribunal decision and completely halt their reclamation activities on the disputed waters,” said Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairman. With Sandy Araneta