China committed to peaceful resolution of sea row: envoy

This was emphasized by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, on the sideline of the turn-over cceremony of 3,000 Chinese-made M-4 assault rifles, three million rounds of ammunition, and 90 sniper scopes in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City Thursday. (Photo: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of the Philippines)

MANILA — The People’s Republic of China (PROC) is committed to resolving the maritime dispute with the Philippines peacefully.

This was emphasized by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, on the sideline of the turn-over ceremony of 3,000 Chinese-made M-4 assault rifles, three million rounds of ammunition, and 90 sniper scopes in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City Thursday.

“Chinese (government) is committed to (a) peaceful resolution to the disputes that we have in the South China Sea. As far (as) military-to-military relations is concerned, we are enhancing our respective relations with all the claimant states including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and we’re even exporting submarines missiles to some of the claimant states,” he added.

He said this only shows that Beijing has no intention to settle the dispute by force as it would have not given or sold weapons to claimant states.

“We are not afraid because our intention is sincere and our belief the intention of the Philippines and other claimant states is also sincere in terms of seeking a peaceful solution to the disputes we have,” Zhao stressed.

“Second point, is that we do have disputes but we have to put in a proper context, I said repeatedly early it only constitute one percent of our overall bilateral relationship so we need to look at the bigger picture and focus on friendship and cooperation but in the meantime we need to be sincere and to be candid in exchange views, in seeking a solution that is peaceful and that is acceptable to both sides,” he pointed out.

When asked about the presence of Chinese ships off Pag-asa sandbars, the Chinese envoy said they are strictly complying with the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) that China and ASEAN have agreed upon in 2002.

“But you may see some presence of Chinese ships or presence Filipino ships but that’s a part, we say that overlapping or disputed area, so it’s quite natural for you to see some of the boats, fishing boats to be there, they are carrying their daily fishing, you don’t have to be alarmed and both Chinese and the Filipino side have a clear understanding of what they are doing,” Zhao added.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana echoed Zhao’s remarks, noting that it is natural to see a lot of ships in the disputed waters.

“You (members of the media) were with us when we went to Pag-asa (last April) right? so you saw a lot of ships there, saw ships in the distance, if you stand at the end of the runway in Pag-asa you can see already the Subi Reef, the structures there and then the vicinity there are already Chinese ships fishing and also on the other side you can also, you see also (a) Philippine ship, in fact one of our navy ship was there before so it’s natural like the ambassador said that you can see a lot of ships there, it (does not) mean that the ships are doing illegal things or harassing other people,” he added.

Lorenzana also clarified that there is no violent conflict in the area.