Cayetano: Duterte’s handling of dispute with China ‘beneficial’

MANILA, Philippines — The current diplomatic handling of the territorial dispute with China has benefited the Philippines, unlike the “loud” and “aggressive” approach taken by the previous Aquino administration, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday.

“When President Duterte came in, Philippines was speaking loudly, and maybe correctly so at that time against China, and harnessing public support and internationalizing the issues, (while) China on the other hand was gaining ground... completely controlling Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal and then of course the building and everything,” Cayetano said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

“The Aquino strategy is loud but what’s the end?” he said.

What resulted from the previous administration’s aggressive approach was Filipino fishermen’s getting barred from Panatag Shoal.

Cayetano said critics continue their attacks against Duterte apparently to force him to adopt the strategy of the previous administration.

“What will happen (if we follow the Aquino approach), our fishermen can’t fish, our agricultural products will not enter their market, our tourism will not (grow). We’re result-oriented, to talk is easy,” he said.

“If that kind of action would give these results, I’ll do that action,” the country’s top diplomat said.

Recently, Filipino fishermen at Panatag Shoal complained about Chinese coast guards seizing sizeable portions of their catch in exchange for noodles and bottled water.

Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua earlier said these were isolated incidents but promised to punish erring coast guards.

Panatag, one of the land features in the West Philippine Sea, came under China’s control in 2012 after a standoff that resulted from Chinese surveillance vessels’ preventing Philippine Navy boats from arresting Chinese poachers. Panatag is well within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The July 2016 ruling of the United Nations-backed arbitral tribunal declared Panatag Shoal a traditional fishing ground for Filipinos, Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen.

Asked whether the Philippines really benefitted from the arbitral ruling, Cayetano said the country “won on paper but lost on grounds.”

“Experts outside of the Philippines asked me who’s the biggest winner in the arbitration, I said the Philippines, (but) they said the name of the other country and they told me why and they have a point,” he said.  

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