The Philippines will not enter deals with China on the West Philippine Sea without their recognition of the 2016 arbitral ruling if she is elected president, Vice President Leni Robredo said.
Despite this, Robredo said she was open to working with China in areas not in conflict with the Philippines.
“For China, we will collaborate with them in the areas that we have no conflict such as trades and investments, much like what Vietnam has been doing,” Robredo said during a meeting of the Rotary Club of Manila on Thursday.
“But when it comes to the West Philippine Sea, we cannot deal with them without their recognition of the arbitral ruling. For example, we only agree to joint oil exploration if there is first a recognition of our rights,” she added.
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands invalidated Beijing’s claims over the South China Sea, saying that there was “no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the nine-dash line.”
Robredo said she believes it would be beneficial for the country to have an “inclusive and independent” foreign policy.
“For me, it is always more beneficial to us to have an inclusive and independent foreign policy as opposed to one which favors specific countries,” she said.
Duterte has previously called the arbitral ruling a scrap of paper.
PHL-US ties
Meanwhile, Robredo said the Philippines will continue strengthening ties with the United States, especially since there were a lot of overseas Filipino workers there.
“But we want to create better ties especially in the areas for the protection of our citizens, increasing exports, bolstering trade, military, and intelligence capabilities, and, of course, protecting the West Philippine Sea,” she said.
She said the Philippines will also create stronger diplomatic relations with other allies such as the ASEAN countries, the European Union, Great Britain, and Australia among others.
“And in countries where there is large concentration of OFWs. We do all we can to cement bilateral agreements with them to ensure the protection of Filipinos and to ensure satisfactory labor conditions for them,” she said.
“We will be open to working with everyone so long as it is in the best interest of the Filipino people,” she added.
Robredo last week formalized her presidential bid by filing her certificate of candidacy for president. Her running mate is Senator Kiko Pangilinan. — RSJ, GMA News
Robredo: Trade with China OK, but no deals on West Philippine Sea without recognition of ruling
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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