Manila is keen on entering into a provisional fishing agreement with China on the West Philippines Sea, the chief of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday.
During the agency’s 2017 budget briefing, Foreign Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. said a temporary agreement on fishing rights between the Philippines and China is needed until the two countries can find a “permanent solution.”
“What we are trying to do at this point is to create the environment under which we can formally move forward toward bilateral negotiations with China. But before these bilateral negotiations to take place, we would like for China at this point to come out and agree with what is known as a provisional agreement for the purpose of allowing our fishermen to go back into their traditional fishing grounds,” Yasay said.
“[Agreement with] China on a provisional basis [is important] to move forward and come up with a permanent solution,” he added.
Despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling, Filipino fishermen are still being barred by Chinese government from fishing in the West Philippine Sea. But the DFA chief assured lawmakers that the Philippines will not engage in a “shooting war” with Beijing.
“We won’t be engaging China in a shooting war. We will exercise maximum tolerance, restraint and sobriety for this purpose. Our tasks at this point is to make sure that our diplomatic processes that we will be embarking and continue to embark, in fact, will result in the kind of objectives that we would like to achieve,” Yasay added.
He also made an assurance that the DFA will continue to contribute to the safeguarding of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity, specifically through the implementation of postarbitration strategies related to the West Philippine Sea issue.
“The Philippines has always maintained that it will abide by the decision of the arbitral tribunal on the matter of its maritime entitlements in the South China Sea,” he said.
By 2017, Yasay also said the DFA expects to be actively involved in initiatives built upon the tribunal’s decision and aimed at establishing and strengthening rules-based norms of conduct in the area.
“The DFA will also continue working with other international partners to shore up support for Philippine efforts to implement the tribunal’s ruling, as well as the country’s advocacy for a regional maritime order underpinned by the rule of law,” he added.
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Seriously? I think it’s better to just help our fishermen raise fish through fish pens than to get ourselves estopped. That would be a mistake that would forever encumber our posterity.
Unless that deal clearly indicates that it does not mean we are acknowledging China’s claims to OUR waters, we should not cut any deal to allow us to fish on our own waters. We will eventually be able to claim back what’s ours as we improve our defense power and negotiate better defense treaties with the US.
China will surely spin any deal as an acknowledgment of their ownership of our waters.