SENATE Minority Leader Frank Drilon decried Sunday the Philippine government’s “ineffective” policy of appeasement with China, noting how Vietnam has gotten so much more economic benefits from Beijing despite consistently challenging the expansion of the Asian giant in the South China Sea.
Drilon lamented in a radio interview how Manila had squandered the gains from the favorable 2016 ruling by a United Nations arbitral tribunal in the case brought by Manila on the South China Sea.
Drilon said he had long been saying that such policy of appeasement with China had “no effect” at all on the Philippine economy. “If you look at our neighboring country, Vietnam in particular, which also confronted China, the direct foreign investments from China to Vietnam ballooned to $2.17-billion, while Chinese investments to the Philippines [was] only $31-million in 2017,” Drilon added.
Moreover, the senator said, the number of Vietnam’s Chinese tourists “is four times larger than ours.” He noted that Chinese tourist arrivals in Philippines stood at only 968,447 in 2017 while Chinese tourist arrivals in Vietnam were at 4 million. Anecdotal information bolsters this: a group of journalists who visited Vietnam’s world-famous Halong Bay recently learned from Vietnamese tourism people that Chinese tourists accounted for as much as three fourths of the visitors to the place on any given day.
Drilon suggested that “at the end of the day, this means the national interest of China, whatever the situation in Vietnam in terms of their attraction as an investment destination, is the one that prevails.”
The senator surmised this is proof that even if Vietnam fought with China, they continue to attract Chinese tourists “four times bigger than ours.”
Drilon stressed that clearly, “the policy of appeasement is not working.”
That is why, he said, “we want to hear what this administration intends to do to recover the islands that the court said is ours.”
Keep raising issue
The Senate Minority Leader lamented he had long been prodding the government to issue a policy statement on the West Philippine Sea.
Drilon believes the Philippine government can find ways “through peaceful means, diplomatic means, like elevating the issue to the United Nations to reassert our sovereignty.”
“We should be more assertive on our claims on these islands,” adds Drilon.
He called on the Senate leadership, particularly Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate foreign relations committee chairperson Sen. Loren Legarda, to conduct hearings and get inputs from experts on what should be done “in terms of peaceful pursuits over the West Philippine Sea.”
Palace defends tack
Meanwhile, Malacanang defended the government’s tack on the maritime dispute after survey results showed 87 percent of Filipinos deem it important that the country regain control of the islands occupied by China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque, Jr. said the government shared the same view with the people in seeking to assert the country’s sovereign rights and territorial claims in WPS.
“Having seen how the confrontational approach of the previous administration only spurred greater militarization, we have shifted to a conciliatory tack and friendly dialogue with China by employing a bilateral consultation mechanism to resolve issues while we build up our capability to monitor and defend our maritime interests,” Roque said in a statement on Sunday.
The Second Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey results also showed 69 percent of Filipinos saying that China is afraid to face any court “because they know that they are not on the side of justice” while 65 percent are aware of China’s abuses of Filipino fishermen.
Forty-three percent of Filipinos also consider the government’s non-protest of actions of China as “not treachery.”
On July 12, 2016, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration issued the landmark decision invalidating China’s massive claims to the disputed waters, noting that the Asian superpower has no legal basis to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within their “nine-dash line.”
The Duterte administration has since been criticized for taking a softer stance against China in exchange for loans and investments, especially for infrastructure projects.
Malacanang, however, has since maintained that its new approach was more beneficial, especially to the Filipinos fishing in Scarborough Shoal.
The government stressed that it has filed diplomatic protests against China over its militarization activities in the South China Sea. However, the protests were not yet made public despite a clamor for such.
Foreign Affairs Alan Peter S. Cayetano said in an earlier interview that they cannot do what the critics want them to do, which is to announce loudly and confront China each and every time, as it is not conducive for ongoing talks.
Butch Fernandez and Bernadette Nicolas