MALACAÑANG on Friday said it would wait and study the upcoming ruling of the United Nations’ Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea dispute before deciding on what to do with a likely favorable decision.
Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar clarified an earlier statement by Foreign Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. that the Philippines is ready to have bilateral negotiations with China regardless of which way the verdict will go, including possible negotiations on joint exploration and exploitation of natural resources in the disputed territories.
“To that question, we will have to wait for the final decision of the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. And then, once they have decided, what we will do is to study the decision. After the solicitor general has studied the decision, then that’s the time that we shall explore our next move,” Andanar said in an interview over state-owned Radyo ng Bayan.
On Friday Yasay was quoted as saying that the Philippines is willing to talk to China whether it wins or loses in the arbitration case filed by Manila before the UN. He said the talks with China could dwell on joint exploitation of natural-gas reserves and fishing grounds within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.
But Yasay later on clarified that the joint exploitation of natural resources is just one of the options for the Philippines in trying to resolve the territorial dispute. President Duterte, before being sworn into office on June 30, had said the Philippines may go into bilateral talks with China if nothing comes out from efforts to enforce the arbitration ruling in the next two years.
However, it appears the Philippines’s strategies in trying to enforce a possibly favorable ruling are already known to China after the televised first Cabinet meeting held by Mr. Duterte in Malacanang when he was sworn in.
Yasay told that televised meeting what he thought China would do in the face of a ruling in favor of the Philippines—that China would probably “dig in and put us to a test” and prevent our fishermen from fishing in the disputed Scarborough Shoal again.
“If that happens, there is no point for us to yell,” Yasay was quoted by The Associated Press as saying.
China is expected to ignore an adverse ruling by the arbitration court, after having repudiated the jurisdiction of the court and having announced the start of military drills in the disputed territories just days before the promulgation of the verdict, which is scheduled on Tuesday.
3 comments
The DFA secretary is opening his mouth too soon. We don’t need a loose canon in this or any other international issue. No policy statement have yet been ordered nor discussed and the secretary pre-empted everyone else, even the UNCLOS.
Bobo, stupido talaga itong si Yasay. Parang walang pinagkatandaan. Isang perpektong example ng isang traydor sa bayan. Pwe!!!
this secretary sounds like a chinese… trying to discredit and/or invalidate the court ruling