Sta. Romana: BRI offers broad prospects for China-Philippines cooperation

So we approach it through that angle, and it’s already happening, in the case of tourism. You know, over the past year, the number of tourists in the Philippines, Chinese tourists coming to the Philippines, has almost doubled. We experience it here in the Philippine Embassy, the number of visa applications is almost like a deluge, you know, there’s a deluge of visa applications, our consular section is actually somewhat overworked on this. But this is a good kind of problem to have. So, last year, we were able to achieve about 600 thousand Chinese visitors to the Philippines. Now, after October, it’s already 800 thousand, and the goal is to make it 1 million, perhaps by Chinese New Year, we can achieve this. And then next year, the goal is to achieve 1.3 million tourists from China. So, this is one concrete benefit of the people to people exchanges within the rubric of the Belt and Road Initiative. From our point of view, within the rubric of, you know, improving bilateral relations between our two countries. The saying is true that China now is the number two source of tourists for the Philippines, whereas before it was number three or number four. And we expect that at some point in the near future, perhaps in a year or two, China will be the top source of tourists to the Philippines.

In addition, trade – here you can see the benefits already happening, and we expect more of this. If you go around Beijing, you will see bananas, mangos, pineapples; other tropical fruits from the Philippines. And so there is again, this is like an upsurge of fruits from the Philippines coming to the Chinese market, and the potential is there for more growth.

In addition, infrastructure projects are now being rolled out in the Philippines. China has donatedtwo bridgesin the metroManila area, to cover the main river. And the goal of this is really to help alleviate traffic in our capital city, which has this major problem of being congested and a lot of traffic. And that work will start and hopefully in a year or two, it will be completed. In addition, next year, in 2018, I think two specific projects, a major Dam that will irrigate a big area in northern Philippines, and another dam that will provide the water supply to the capital region in Luzon, not too far from Manila, will be constructed. And, so these are the beginnings. There’s also a plan for the railway project, from Manila all the way to south of the Island of Luzon. So these, we consider as the first basket of projects under the rubric of the bilateral, under the framework of improving bilateral relations. Because it helps connectivity, because it helps in promoting bilateral relations, it also helps in giving concrete expression to the Belt and Road Initiative.

There’s now going to be discussion on the second batch of projects, most of which will be in the southern Philippines, in Mindanao, and in the Visaya. They are talking of building bridges, of building expressways, in Davao, in Mindanao, and the railway project. But, these are still under discussion, and we hope they can be, they would be ready by the time we get to 2019.

China.org.cn: Sir, as you know, the 19th CPC National Congress determined the goals of China for a period to come. China will continue to pursue friendly neighborhood diplomacy to build a community with shared future. So at this new historical starting point, how should we ensure that relations between our two countries always develop in the right direction and maintain the peace, stability, development and prosperity of the South China Sea Area?

Romana: Well, I think, under President Duterte, the approach that he has followed can basically be summarized as follows: On the one hand, he upholds what is in the Philippine constitution, what we call an independent foreign policy. The key point here is to be friends to all, and be enemies to none. And so from my point of view, a major shift in the approach is not to put disputes at the center of relations, but rather to see that on the one hand, there will be challenges to the bilateral relations.

There is a whole area, that is non-contentious, in other words, where there are no disputes, whether trade, whether infrastructure, investment, science, technology, education, culture, agriculture. So the point is basically what President Duterte has done is to go on two tracks. The disputes, we put on one track, we put it aside. And then we try to fast track the areas where there are no disputes. And so we have the bilateral consultative mechanism set up between our two countries, between China and the Philippines. And we had the inaugural session last May, and the second one is due soon. So here, this is where we discuss in a calm, dispassionate manner, the sensitive issues.

And we also explore areas of how to manage the disputes, those we cannot solve right away. And so the key is to ease the tensions, and to manage the disputes. And this is what we are trying to do. And we have managed, I think, significantly over the past year, to ease the tensions, and to promote more cooperation, cooperation between the two coast guards, cooperation between the two navies, and the fishermen on both sides.

So, on the other hand, other areas of cooperation have gone at a fast clip in tourism, education, culture, and, you know, science. We have managed to normalize and restore all the bilateral mechanisms, in the fields of agriculture, foreign affairs, in the field of economics and trade, and recently in defense. So we are able to, on the one hand, normalize relations, on the other hand, put them, we have been able to put them on a higher plane. And I think the prospects are bright, we will be able to continue on this track and further improve relations. There will still be challenges, but as long as both sides are able to discuss this on the basis of sovereign equality, and mutual accommodation and benefit, I think it will be possible to continue and further boost the bilateral relations between our two countries.