(Eagle News Service) — Two former high-ranking government officials said on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte was employing the right tact in dealing with China and the territorial issues in the South China Sea.
Former president and now 2nd District Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a press conference that “as far as (she was) concerned, President Duterte knows what he’s doing.”
“…I have no specific recommendation to make. I have a general recommendation to make which I made during the National Security Council meeting that he held early in his administration, and that is, as far as China is concerned, our strategic direction should be to emphasize our economic relations and transcend, to the extent that we can, matters at issue between us,” she added.
Asked what she thought about Duterte’s pronouncement about riding a jet ski to the disputed areas, Arroyo said, “those are very tactical issues.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” she reiterated.
Cooperation, the best solution
For former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, President Duterte was “navigating the troubled waters of the China Sea very well.”
He said that based on past experiences, “cooperation, not necessarily war in the South China Sea, is a possibility and perhaps is the best solution.”
He noted for instance the “peace and quiet” and “cooperative effort” among the Philippines, China, and even Vietnam during Arroyo’s time, when a “joint seismic survey” was conducted in the disputed area.
“That meant the cost of the survey was borne by the three countries, with the understanding also that the results of the information that would be gathered would be shared among the three countries. Of course there were questions of constitutionality, but the point is, that shows that cooperation, not necessarily war in the South China Sea, is a possibility and perhaps is the best solution,” he said.
He said the Philippines’ act of filing a protest with the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal even had negative repercussions.
The Philippines filed the case in January 2013, during then-President Benigno Aquino III’s administration.
The filing was done after a tense standoff between Chinese and Philippines ships at the disputed Scarborough shoal the year before that, in April.
In July 2016, the tribunal decided that the Philippines had exclusive sovereign rights over the South China Sea.
It also declared China’s “nine-dash line,” which is the basis for its claims over almost the entire disputed area, was invalid.
“Outflanked” by China
“As I said, I don’t know the reason that claim was filed so I cannot say if it’s right or wrong. What I can say is that as far as China is concerned, it provoked their island building factory,” Mendoza said.
“In effect we were fighting in The Hague, maybe we were winning in The Hague, but China outflanked us. And China made it a point that while we were winning in The Hague, it was winning in waters in the South China Sea,” he added.