According to Philippine ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia, Aquino will tackle the subject in his scheduled speeches at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Massachusetts and at Columbia University in New York.
“The reason the President is very confident to speak about it [is] not only because he knows the issue very well, but [because] we have very strong grounds for advancing our position,” Cuisia said in a press statement issued by the Presidential Communications Operations Office on Sunday.
The Philippines and China have a long-standing territorial dispute over several islands, islets, and atolls in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which were believed to be rich in natural resources.
The tension escalated in April 2012, when Manila and Beijing became locked in a standoff at Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) after Chinese vessels prevented Philippine authorities from arresting Chinese fishermen allegedly poaching in the shoal.
This led to the country’s filing a case against China at the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration operating under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLCOS).
China, on the other hand, rejected the country’s case filing. Earlier, Beijing turned down multilateral negotiations in resolving the territorial issue, saying it preferred bilateral talks.
During his eight-day European trip, Aquino received support for the country’s call for a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Among those who backed Aquino was Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who volunteered that Spain be the Philippines’ “voice” in the European Union on various issues.
Not the totality of PHL-China relations
In a separate interview with Koerber Stiftung after a policy speech in Berlin, Germany, Aquino reiterated his stance that the territorial row must be resolved peacefully. He added that the two countries’ economic ties will not be a deterrent to Manila’s territorial claims.
“I am tasked by our Constitution to protect our territory to the furthest extent that I can,” he said.
“Now, it behooves us to really expand our trade relations with everybody willing and eager to trade with us. Perhaps to give us that degree of independence that we need to chart our own course,” Aquino aid.
Aside from the natural resources that lie in the West Philippine Sea, the President said that no one should control the vast seas, as this it will impede the growth of the the global economy.
“There is an estimate that says 40 percent of global trade has to cross this particular [area], which is in South China Sea, and if it gets to a situation where there is one state that determines who can and cannot pass through, and when and when not, and puts in…various rules and regulations, then it will undermine the global economy that is just now recovering,” he said.
Aquino added that the territorial row is just one aspect of the relationship between the two countries. “We still adhere to the belief that this particular tension should not be the be-all and end-all of our relations with China,” he said.
PNoy says no to war
Asked if he is inclined to invest more in the military, Aquino said: “In the debate between guns and butter, we really want to devote most of the resources to butter, especially given the fact that a lot of our people are living below the poverty line and deprived of so many things.”
Likewise, Aquino brushed aside the idea of war.
“Do we want war? No,” he said, adding that there is a “consensus that you can never really have a good outcome, you can never produce good results” with war.
“But having said that, we really have to also have the right to exercise self-defense,” he added.
The United States is a long-time ally of the Philippines. The two signed a mutual defense treaty in 1951 that obliges American troops to help defend the Philippines if it comes under attack. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/BM, GMA News
