China, Philippines Need Joint Development, Cooperation in Post Arbitration Phase: Expert

What really meets the interests of people in the Philippines and China is joint development and cooperation in areas of common concern, said a Philippine political analyst. Richard Javad Heydarian, an associate professor in De La Salle University, made the remarks during an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Wednesday in Manila. He first analyzed the current situation of Rodrigo Duterte administration after an arbitration award released. As the Philippine foreign ministry only made a very short declaration after the award in the South China Sea Arbitration was published on Tuesday, Heydarian thought Duterte kept his promise of treating the award with a "soft landing" instead of flaunting. "I think the Duterte administration's decision was the best thing for the Philippines to do in the post arbitration phase, (because it) is a 'soft landing', so essentially how to use this verdict as a guidance for us to move forward when we bilaterally engage China. So the court has already said its position, but what's important is how the Philippines and China on their own resolve their differences," said Heydarian. The Duterte administration is under the pressure from the United States and Japan, said Heydarian. Those countries want the Philippines to give a strong declaration on the award, for fear that their so called "freedom of navigation" operations will be affected. It's a trail for Duterte. "If the Philippines doesn't release a strong statement calling for enforcement, it will be a little bit tricky for the United States and other countries to justify what they called 'freedom of navigation' operations in this area. So this is the tricky game that Duterte is playing right now. He's under pressure by the United States and Japan," he said. Heydarian believed that Duterte's unique character may give an opportunity for the Philippines to get away from the United States as he is seeking an independent foreign policy. However, Heydarian was worried that if China takes strong measures on the South China Sea issue, Duterte may choose to beat back. Thus he thought the best choice for the Philippines is to accept China's assistance and focus on development. "I think his strategic objective is not only to protect the Philippine maritime claims and Philippine rights within its exclusive economic zone, but the bigger priority also here is to preserve friendly and constructive relations with China. I think that Duterte realizes that China is very important for the Philippines if the Philippines wants to upgrade its creaking infrastructure landscape, and I'm sure that China for the past few months has already made a lot of offers that it's willing to help the Philippines to operate its infrastructure, to build new railways. I think under the framework of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or the maritime silk road initiative or based on bilateral infrastructure agreements, China could be very crucial for the Philippines to develop itself further," he said. He also pointed out that what really meets the interests of both countries' people is to freeze the disputes and concentrate on joint development and cooperation instead of escalating the conflicts. "As a formula of Zhou Enlai or Deng Xiaoping would put it, shelve sovereignty which is intractable and zero sum, focus on joint development, focus on cooperation, focus on areas of common concern. I think we are essentially trying to do a Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping formula here. It's much more difficult than the past because now we have passionate public in both the Philippines and China. That is why both the Xi Jinping administration and the Duterte administration have to stand their ground and prioritize the bigger interest. The bigger interest is, we revive our bilateral ties. The bigger interest is, we avoid further conflict," he said. As the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting will soon be held in late July, Heydarian said it may be a good chance for both countries to start dialogue and find a way to deal with the disputes. More on: http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20160714/8026967.shtml#!language=1 Subscribe us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CCTVPlus CCTV+ official website: http://www.cctvplus.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cctv-news-content Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsContent.CCTVPLUS Twitter: https://twitter.com/CCTV_Plus