The Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Senator Bongbong Marcos, together with the Committees on Peace Unification and Reconcillation; and Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, will contiunue its inquiry on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. Also present during the BBL hearing is Senator Chiz Escudero. (MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Wednesday urged the Aquino government to explore backchannel diplomacy to defuse the tension between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea.
In a press statement, Marcos said the government could tap Filipino businessmen to reach out to their colleagues in China and help in asking the Chinese government to stop its aggressive position on the disputed territories.
“Diplomacy is not exclusively a government to government endeavor. There are a lot of Filipino businessmen with businesses in China and they have friends and connections there. Let’s utilize that, ask them to talk to their friends on how we can resolve this matter peacefully,” he said.
He added the thrust of such backchanneling is to persuade China to stop its massive reclamation and aggressive stance in the disputed territories to give way for a dialogue to resolve the conflict.
“Even if we don’t manage to arrive at an agreement immediately, if we are talking, there’s a chance we might be able to reason with China to stop doing what it’s doing and continue talking. If we manage to do that, there is hope for a peaceful resolution,” the senator said.
In 2012, Senator Antonio Trillanes was tapped to hold backchannel talks with China to resolve the territorial dispute over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.
Marcos also suggested that Malacañang summon the Chinese ambassador to relay to Beijing the country’s desire for a diplomatic solution amid concern that aggressive activities from any party could spark confrontation in the area.
He said intensified diplomatic initiative on the part of the Philippines has become imperative now that the situation has become more complicated with Washington’s equally strong posture to assert freedom of navigation rights in the region.
This was after a Chinese Navy sent a stern warning against a US patrol plane conducting flight drills over the West Philippine Sea asking it to leave their airspace. But the US said it would continue to defy China as their flight operations were done in international airspace.
Marcos said the Philippines will be in the losing end if caught in the crossfire in case of a confrontation between the US and China.
“The end game of all our diplomatic efforts is to secure an agreement with China over the disputed territories in West Philippine Sea, that is what we should do,” Marcos said.(MNS)