China-Philippine ties should go back to normal
- By Xu Liping
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 7, 2016
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Former President Fidel Ramos |
Editor' note:
The ruling on the South China Sea issue by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague has stoked tensions in the relationship between China and the Philippines. In the wake of the ruling, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte decided to send former president Fidel Ramos to China, demonstrating the concerns the ruling has raised in the country. Xu Liping, an expert in Asia Pacific affairs, talked to China's Guancha.cn about his observations on the issue after his recent trip to the country. China.org.cn edited and translated part of the interview as follows.
From the Philippines side, they think that the country has had a "thorough victory," as several of their points were recognized by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but average Philippine citizens do not know what the ruling was exactly about and what impact it will bring to their country. A rising tide of nationalism is permeating the Philippine society, which is more of an illusory sense of victory. As for Philippine scholars, they think that the country has taken advantage of the "grey area" ofthe United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to maintain their own interests. When it comes to the Philippines government, the current administration headed by Rodrigo Duterte wants peaceful talks with China.
As far as I know, Philippine scholars think that the South China Sea issue should not impact the China-Philippine relations as a whole. Some even say that the Philippines does not care much about territorial issues. For instance, Corazon Aquino, the 11th president of the Philippines and the mother of former president Benigno Aquino III, dropped the country's territorial claim to Sabah in the 1990s, which was a more important place to the country.
Some said that China and the Philippines' disputes in the South China Sea have been taken advantage of by other countries. For example, they said that some fishermen were sent to the Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) to go fishing after the ruling, and there were journalists who went behind to film it. They said that those fishermen took money from U.S.-backed media outlets to do so and raised more tensions between the two countries.
Philippine scholars said that China-Philippine relations should go back to rationality and continue economic and trade cooperation. 60 percent of Philippine citizens are impoverished, and the country hopes that China will open up more employment opportunities for their workers, for example, loosening China's quota on taking in Philippines domestic workers. They argue that Philippine housekeepers, who speak English and have professional training in housekeeping, will make up for the shortcomings in China's housekeeping industry and will not impact the job opportunity of Chinese housekeepers.
The scholars are also interested in Chinese investments. Philippine President Duterte also made clear in his recent statement that nothing would halt the country's industrialization process. The country was the strongest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc in the 1960s, but is now quite behind other countries due to its political instability, democratic and labor movement in the past few years. The country is eager to catch up and would want China to help it achieve this goal.
Philippine President Duterte said several days ago that he would send his predecessor, former president Fidel Ramos, to China for talks. I think the visit will help the two countries rebuild and regain their trust in each other. Ramos is Duterte's friend, and he does not only know Duterte's standing on the South China Sea issue, but also understands what's going on in China. He is, for instance, chairman of the Board of Directors of the China-based Boao Forum for Asia, and visits China every year. During his administration, the disputes in the South China Sea were under control. As a result, Ramos' upcoming visit is rather meaningful, no matter whether it could achieve any substantial results. It is a positive sign to have talks between the two countries.
Xu Liping is a researcher on Asia-Pacific affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The article was translated by Zhang Lulu. Its original unabridged version was published in Chinese.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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