{"id":164893,"date":"2018-05-25T07:24:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T11:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=164893"},"modified":"2018-05-25T07:24:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T11:24:13","slug":"dutertes-pivot-to-china-very-timely-roque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/25\/dutertes-pivot-to-china-very-timely-roque\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte\u2019s \u2018pivot\u2019 to China very timely: Roque"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Philippine-Chinese<\/a>
Philippine-Chinese relations have been rejuvenated after Duterte temporarily shelved the arbitral tribunal\u2019s decision nullifying China\u2019s nine-dash line map that covers almost the whole of the South China Sea. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to pivot to China, and not to be confrontational in resolving the West Philippine Sea dispute, is very timely.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said all economic activities are now in Asia, with China\u2019s modern \u201cBelt and Road\u201d economic integration initiative boosting trade and investment and people-to-people exchanges in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pivot of the President to China is in conformity with new world history. The Silk Road details why this century is Asia\u2019s century. So our pivot is very timely because we will benefit while economic activities are in Asia,\u201d Roque said an interview with Bro. Eddie Villanueva over Light TV on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The Philippines should take advantage of the country\u2019s proximity to China, the world\u2019s second largest economy, he said, noting that even President Donald Trump of the United States, a traditional ally of the Philippines, is taking steps to boost American trade with China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will benefit from the economic gains that this part of the world has been getting,\u201d Roque, an international law expert, said. \u201cAll the remaining colonial mentality, that\u2019s obsolete already. The US is still strong, all the Nobel Prize awardees and good academics are still there but the truth is, the trades and investments are now in Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philippine-Chinese relations have been rejuvenated after Duterte temporarily shelved the arbitral tribunal\u2019s decision nullifying China\u2019s nine-dash line map that covers almost the whole of the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

Roque clarified that Duterte\u2019s decision to set aside the ruling in 2016 does not mean the country\u2019s is surrendering its maritime territory to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just set aside (a) problem that cannot be resolved overnight and pushed the non-contentious issues that we can agree on, like economic cooperation, trade and investments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Palace official said such contentious issues as the WPS disputes are being discussed through the Bilateral Consultative Mechanism (BCM), where leaders meet twice a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll our problems in the WPS are being voiced out there and we\u2019re finding solutions. We are doing something. We just don\u2019t broadcast it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are not making a big deal out of it because we have bigger economic gains if we will temporarily set it aside and talk (about) the non-contentious issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque said even Duterte has promised that he will not surrender even an inch of the Philippines\u2019 maritime and land territories to any foreign country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe promise of the President, he will die first before he could surrender even an inch of our territories to foreigners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s alleged militarization in the WPS will be discussed in the upcoming BCM meeting, Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no capability to forcibly remove China there. He (Duterte) inherited this problem. The solution is, don\u2019t give up the territory but be practical. Push the interest of the country which is to provide food, clothes and shelters,\u201d he explained. \u201cOn contentious issues, let us not touch them for now because I think the territorial dispute would have no resolution during our lifetimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte has repeatedly said he won\u2019t go to a battle that the country cannot win but told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he will raise the issue of the arbitral tribunal\u2019s ruling before he steps down in 2022.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque clarified that the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration\u2019s ruling covers only the maritime territory in the WPS since it is made by the arbitration court of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is the ruling was only for artificial islands which are in our exclusive economic zone. But for disputed land territory, is not cleared yet. That\u2019s why it is important to strengthen our friendly ties because as friends, we can easily agree on something,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang said Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to pivot to China, and not to be confrontational in resolving the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":164895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[13135,31449,19108],"class_list":["post-164893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-presidential-spokesperson-harry-roque","tag-silk-road","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}