China won't use COVID-19 as leverage, Palace and envoy assure public
MANILA, Philippines — Manila's envoy to Beijing on Monday sought to allay fears that China is using its candidate COVID-19 vaccines to secure concessions from the Philippines, especially not on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.
Chinese drugmakers Sinovac and Sichuan Clover were the first to secure approval from the vaccine experts panel to hold clinical trials in the country which is seen to take place before the year ends or by early January 2021.
Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana in a Palace briefing recognized that there is a concern that China's COVID-19 vaccines may come at another cost in the future, but said that Beijing is doing this instead to "improve its standing in the world."
"As you know, the ratings of China — for example, in the Philippines — when it comes to trustworthiness is quite low," he said in mixed English and Filipino. "So the point of this [is] on the one hand, to make it a global public good and make it available particularly to their close friends, countries that are friendly to them."
The envoy to Beijing was responding to queries on a paper published by the Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore that said China's vaccine diplomacy "is not unconditional."
"Beijing may use its vaccine donations to advance its regional agenda, particularly on sensitive issues such as its claims in the South China Sea," researchers Ardhitya Eduard Yeremia and Klaus Heinrich Raditio wrote.
China maintains a presence in waters it claims despite being disputed by other countries aside from the Philippines. Manila calls the part of the South China Sea within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone the West Philippine Sea.
Manila filed two diplomatic protests against Beijing in April over the Chinese pointing a radar gun at a Philippine Navy Ship as well as declaring a territory of the country as part of their Hainan provinces.
The territorial dispute has transcended administrations, but saw tensions peak during the Benigno Aquino III presidency when the Philippines took filed an arbitration case at the Hague that it eventually won.
China did not participate in the case and has refused to recognize the 2016 decision.
Duterte stresses sea ruling at UN assembly
President Rodrigo Duterte this year asserted the arbitral ruling before the United Nations General Assembly, a move welcomed by critics of government policy in the West Philippine Sea.
Over the course of his presidency, he has pivoted the country to China and Russia and away from historical Western allies. This included him making his preference known for COVID-19 vaccines from the two countries, as he said the Philippines would be prioritized by Beijing and Moscow.
Despite the maritime dispute, Sta. Romana said the Chinese had been "very clear that when it comes to the Philippines, we put it on separate tracks."
"Where we have differences, we discuss it but if you're going to use one to press on the other, that will certainly not work under this current administration," he said. "So there has been no attempt from the Chinese to link the two together."
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has said that Sinovac may be the earliest to arrive in the Philippines by March of next year, despite the pharmaceutical facing allegations that it bribed Chinese regulators to expedite the approval of its vaccines for SARS and swine flu in the past.
He had also said in a television interview that there is better confidence on the Chinese vaccine compared with Russia's Sputnik V as other countries such as Indonesia and Brazil have already been sent a million doses.
Jakarta got its 1.2 million doses of the Sinovac recently, and it is expecting another 1.8 million more to arrive by January. With 617,820 infections to date, it holds the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, with the Philippines following at nearly 449,000.
While it has inked deals with other foreign suppliers, most of the vaccines will be coming from the Chinese such as Sinovac and Sinopharm -- another drugmaker that the Philippines is in talks with.
Palace: China won't use vaccine to pressure Philippines
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque sought to reassure that the Philippines won't give in to China should there be attempts to use the vaccine as leverage.
He said the Philippines has pursued an independent foreign policy.
This, despite praise and preference for Beijing — Duterte earlier this year rejected calls to ban Chinese travelers in the early stages of pandemic, saying Filipinos should let go of xenophobia. The president has also refused to stop projects of Chinese firms involved in reclamation activities.
"The president in fact shares many values with the leadership of China, including a personal friendship with President Xi," he said. "So I think the possibility of using the vaccine as pressure as far as the Philippines is concerned is almost nil."
China has faced international criticism over the course of the health crisis for its handling of the coronavirus that originated from its own backyard. It has also extended significant assistance to the Philippines such as donating supplies and sending its medical team to assist health officials at home.
Nearly a year since first cases of pneumonia was detected from a SARS-like virus that later on turned out to be a novel coronavirus, the COVID-19 has infected 72.2 million globally, with deaths at 1.6 million. — with reports from Agence France Presse
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