HONG KONG - Relations between China and the Philippines can be strengthened by developing cooperation over trade, energy and agriculture and should not be defined by territorial disputes that once strained bilateral relations, analysts said.
Manila-based analysts who attended an Aug 23 online forum on ‘Dealing with China: Perspectives for the New Administration’ have offered their insights on China-Philippine relations under Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The forum was organized by Wilson Lee Flores, a Manila-based newspaper columnist and honorary chairman of the Anvil Business Club.
Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, research fellow at Philippine think tank Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, said relations between the Philippines and China present both a “challenge and an opportunity”
The analysts said a dispute over the South China Sea had once strained relations between the two countries. However, they said that this should not be “front and center” of the relationship.
Marcos, who began his six-year term on June 30, has vowed to uphold an independent foreign policy in which the Philippines is a friend to everyone and an enemy to no-one. But he also said he “will not preside over any process that will abandon even one square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power”.
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Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, research fellow at Philippine think tank Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, said relations between the Philippines and China present both a “challenge and an opportunity”.
He said key areas for cooperation included agriculture, energy, infrastructure, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges.
Pitlo cited China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, and how it relates with the Philippines’ Build Build Build – the flagship infrastructure development program launched by Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos’ predecessor. Marcos said in an earlier speech that he would continue Duterte’s infrastructure projects.
Pitlo said China has helped finance some projects under the Build Build Build program such as extending 4.37 billion Philippine pesos ($78.04 million) for the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project.
The project, which was inaugurated on June 25, is expected to irrigate more than 8,000 hectares of farmland in the northern Philippines.
Pitlo also welcomed the resumption of talks over the possible China funding of three railway projects, the South Long Haul Project (North-South Commuter Railway) in the Southern Luzon region, the Subic-Clark
Wilson Lee Flores, a Manila-based newspaper columnist, said that most Philippines businessmen were worried in the past when the previous administration had a dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, fearing Philippines’ brands would suffer in the Chinese market
Railway in Central Luzon region and the Mindanao Railway on island of Mindanao.
Flores said that the dispute over the South China Sea “does not define the totality” of China-Philippines relations and that the two countries can explore other areas of cooperation.
“We can uphold Philippines sovereignty without being anti-China,” he said.
Flores said that most Philippines businessmen were worried in the past when the previous administration had a dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, fearing Philippines’ brands would suffer in the Chinese market.
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Flores credited Duterte for easing the once tense relations with China.
He added that China is not only the Philippines biggest trading partner, but also one of its biggest sources of foreign direct investment. He said that while the Philippines lags behind Indonesia and Vietnam in terms of investment from China, China still offers more opportunities to the Philippines.
Flores cited data from Oxford Economics which forecast that the Chinese consumer market will overtake the US. He said that China, with its huge and growing consumer base, offers a big market for Philippines exporters.
Oxford Economics has forecast that the Chinese consumer market will surpass that of the US by 2034. The United Kingdom-based think tank said that by 2040, China will account for 44 percent of global consumption.
