Manila: Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario arrived in China for bilateral negotiations with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, on Friday, to lessen tension over disputed claims on the South China Sea and the oil-rich Spratly, and to arrange the visit of Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Beijing in August, sources and official statement said.
The Philippine foreign secretary’s Friday meeting will also include a “very important meeting” with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, Manila’s foreign affairs source said.
Resolving the issue of overlapping claims on the South China Sea (Manila now calls it West Philippines Sea) “will take time to be resolved, but the meetings will result in confidence building between China and the Philippines,” said the source.
For sure, the two countries will sign bilateral agreements on trade, investment, tourism, defence cooperation, education, science and transnational crimes, said the source. Details were not given.
Earlier, Secretary del Rosario said the South China Sea issue is “not the sum total of Philippines’ relations with China”.
But President Aquino’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that del Rosario’s visit to China should result in a “peaceful resolution to the problem in the (West) Philippine Sea”.
“That is what Secretary Del Rosario is looking forward to,” said Lacierda.
This aspect has to be resolved before Aquino’s visit to China, said Prospero de Vera, a political analyst.
It is not known if the officials will also discuss Manila’s ban of a Chinese diplomat from entering the foreign affairs office, over alleged undiplomatic behaviour during a discussion on the complaints raised by the Philippines against China, said the source.
The Philippines has cited nine complaints against China’s alleged air and naval intrusion on Philippines territories on the West Philippines Sea.
China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei claim some parts of the Spratly Archipelago.
China has been against the inclusion of the United States, a Philippine ally, in the resolution of overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
