Some little known facts are emerging from President Rodrigo Duterte’s four-day state visit to China. While the fruits of the visit like loans, grants and multi-million dollar deals between Filipino and Chinese firms were proudly announced by the Palace communications team, other vital information were withheld.
Some who were part of the 400-member Philippine delegation revealed information Malacañang officials did not want the Filipino people to know. For example, to President Duterte’s credit, he didn’t accept the wording of the Chinese side statement “to allow or permit” Filipino fishermen to return to Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal to ply their trade.
The word “Panatag” means calm in the Filipino language. At least, Duterte this time listened to the advice of Department of Foreign Affairs officials in the delegation that to do so would be to recognize China’s sovereign rights to the disputed body of water. This is au contraire to the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague which rejected the Chinese claim to nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea. The PCA is a UN international tribunal implementing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In my column last week, we pointed out the peril of this diplomatic nuance of asking China to allow our fishermen back in Panatag Shoal. Known internationally as Scarborough Shoal, Chinese gunboats using intimidation seized the shoal in April 2012 and drove away Filipino fishermen.
So everything was not smooth-sailing in Duterte’s pivot to China at the expense of longtime ally America. Rep. Harry Roque, former Manila Standard columnist with the delegation leaked out this snippet of information that everything was not totally hunky-dory in the China visit. Other bad news from some members of the official delegation showed some of the Chinese companies that inked agreements with Filipino firms were undercapitalized and a few had questionable track records of doing business in the Philippines.
President Duterte tried to keep a lid in this kink in the negotiation with the Chinese by simply telling Fishermen to be patient and they will be able to return to Panatag Shoal. But when? The fishermen and their families living off the coast of Zambales are already starving since they were blocked from sailing to the shoal where they traditionally fish. A huge catch before the Chinese came would net the Filipino fishermen at least P3,000 a day. But now confined to nearer the shore of Bajo Masinloc, they are lucky to earn P300 to P500 a day—not even enough for the fuel used in their pump boats.
“I’m not a ‘tuta’ [lackey or lap dog] of anyone,” Digong staunchly proclaimed when criticized for cozying up to China. It’s all in the course of pursuing an independent foreign policy, he said even as he met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a three-day visit to Tokyo. Japan has been providing the Philippines with several patrol boats to beef up its maritime security against Chinese encroachment in the West Philippine Sea.. For sure the Chinese are not going to like this. Japan, which occupied China during World War II, has a territorial dispute with China on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island in the East China Sea. The Japanese have occupied the island much to the ire of the Chinese who claim it as their own . Beijing’s problem is that unlike a small country like the Philippines, Japan with its technological advance, can unleash missiles if China tries to bully it.
Japan is already pissed that North Korea, a known Chinese ally, is firing rockets and missiles in the direction of Japan although their inferior weapons either intentionally or not, fell short of or overshot their target.
And Duterte wants to purchase weapons from China? He should read the authoritative Jane’s book on weaponry that reported about two Chinese-made missiles bought by Indonesia which fell short of its target while the other one exploded on board an Indon ship. These are facts, not rumors.
China is the midst of an international public relations blitz. Filipino journalists are being invited to Beijing and other major Chinese cities to spread the good word about a rising China. You will know them when they come back and write glowing articles on China’s progress. Nobody invited to China has written about China’s repression of its people, the pollution and the toxic products dumped in the Philippines. Bloomberg news, on the other hand, reported about thousands of wealthy Chinese leaving China to give their children a better education. Favored destinations by the disillusioned Chinese migrants are Vancouver, Toronto and US West Coast cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
For a $600,000 investment, Chinese businessmen in two years are given a green card or a residence visa. The only requirement is that the investors put their money in an area that has not drawn interest and the Chinese company employs at least three or six Americans.