The Chinese government does not want to include a neutral third-party facilitator in the Philippines-China joint inquiry into the Recto Bank incident in which a Chinese vessel hit and sank a Filipino fishing boat on June 9, Malacañang said Monday.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said that China stands by its proposal of having a joint investigation only between Manila and Beijing.
“China has answered. First, they offered to have a joint investigation. The President accepted it, but with a third party. They said we should do away with the third-party and we should discuss the issue ourselves,” Panelo told reporters.
He said Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana relayed to him the recent development following his talks with Beijing’s Foreign Ministry.
The Philippines and China will create their respective task groups to investigate the incident separately, then meet to exchange findings and decide what to do next.
“For them, [a third party facilitator is] not needed anymore because if we’re going to resolve this ourselves, then why do we even need the third party? It makes sense,” Panelo said.
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was okay with having a third-party investigation as long as it “satisfies the requirement of fair play and due process.” Duterte also stressed the importance of including a neutral entity into the inquiry to remove doubts on the separate findings of Manila and Beijing.
Panelo on Monday played down the sinking of the Filipino boat and the abandonment of 22 Filipino fishermen by the Chinese crew as “an ordinary nautical navigation incident” and said he foresaw no serious disagreement between both sides.
“The issue is to easy. One, was that an accident or not? Number two, who was accountable? If not an accident, then there is negligence. Number three, why did you abandon [the fishermen]? What would you do now to those you’ve abandoned? You cannot just simply apologize to us,” he said.
On June 9, a Chinese vessel hit the FB Gem-Vir 1, leaving 22 Filipino crew stranded in open water near the Recto Bank for four hours before they were rescued by a Vietnamese boat.
The incident within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone—and President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that he would not stop Chinese vessels from operating in the EEZ—sparked fierce criticism from legal and maritime experts and administration critics.
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