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CHINA has agreed to support, invest and finance some of the Philippines’ infrastructure programs for the next 10 years, one of the agreements signed during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping last week showed.
Malacañang released yesterday five of the 29 memoranda of understanding, agreements and notes that were signed and exchanged last week. The Palace released copies of two MOUs on Monday – one on joint oil and gas development and on the Belt and Road Initiative.
The piecemeal release of agreements came following calls for transparency and warnings of being lured into a debt trap by China.
Under the accord on infrastructure cooperation program, which will be undertaken from November 2018 to November 2028, the Philippine and Chinese governments shall encourage enterprises in their respective countries to participate in the constructions and feasibility studies of key railway, transportation, telecommunications, road and bridge projects in the Philippines.
Among the railways projects initially identified are the construction of the Philippine National Railways South Long Haul Project, Subic-Clark Railway Project, Mindanao Railway Project, and the feasibility studies of the Mindanao Railway Project.
Some of the roads and bridges projects identified include the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridge, Negros-Cebu Link Bridge, Cebu-Bohol Link Bridge, Luzon-Samar Bridge, and the Pasig-Marikina River and Manggahan Floodway. The ferry system projects include the Pasig River Ferry System.
The program would also cover upgrade of airports, fish ports and irrigations as well as rehabilitation of some power plants like the Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric Plant projects, and the promotion of big data system programs and strengthening of technical cooperation on telecommunications.
The agreement stated that China will share with the Philippines its experience and resources “in investment in financing, consultation and design, engineering technology, contracting construction, project management, project financing, among others” to support the infrastructure program in the country.
The document also said the Philippines and China are committed to improve the financing guarantee system for infrastructure cooperation projects as well as to utilize concessional loans, export credit, and other means of financing to provide financial support for infrastructure projects.
The Philippines committed that it would consider extending sovereign guarantee for financing of key infrastructure cooperation projects, as applicable.
The other agreements released by Malacañang are: the accord on the “Implementation Agreement of the Feasibility Study of Davao City Expressway Project,” which outlined the scope and responsibilities of the Philippine government and the Chinese aid body Agency for International Economic Cooperation (AIEC), and Chinese firm CCCC Highways Consultations Co Ltd, in the conduct of a feasibility study for the 26-kilometer Davao City Expressway;
The “Cooperation on Industrial Parks Development,” where the Department of Trade and Industry and China’s Ministry of Commerce agree to explore the establishment of industrial parks in places like the special economic zones, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and Clark Development Corporation;
MOU on “Strengthening the Building of Agricultural Cooperatives” between the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) of the Philippines and the Ministry of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China; MOU on the “Executive Program of the Cultural Agreement” which covers an exchange visit program between the Philippines and China that would be implemented from 2019 to 2023.
Opposition Rep. Gary Alejano (PL, Magdalo) said President Duterte’s preferential treatment to China is weakening the country’s sovereignty and compromising national interest and security.
“Allowing the exploitation of our natural resources by another country, as per the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint exploration, and the hasty entry of a China-backed telco are signs of weakening sovereignty. Debt-trap diplomacy is clearly in effect when national policies have been enacted to align with interests of the country that provided the loans. In the end, Filipinos are at the losing end,” Alejano said.
Alejano slammed the government for the influx of Chinese nationals illegally working in the country and the consistent participation of China-backed entities in government projects, saying it is obvious that the government has been giving undue preference to China.
“We must also pay attention to the impact of the entry to our national security. The third telco was reported to have misdirected internet traffic to intensify China’s surveillance of other countries. This should already be considered a red flag,” he said.
However, Rep. Luis Raymond Villafuerte (NP, Camarines Sur), vice chair of the House committee on national defense, said the nationalism of Duterte’s critics is “misguided” because they refuse to understand that the President is merely resorting to a “pragmatic and legal approach” to Manila’s issue with Beijing over the West Philippine Sea.
He said Duterte’s critics are assailing what is actually a “diplomatic master stroke” in the administration’s decision to explore a possible joint commercial exploration with China without surrendering an inch of sovereign claims or abandoning the country’s victory before the United Nations (UN) International Court of Arbitration.
Villafuerte said the any joint use of the West Philippine Sea resources as a result of the MOU signed by Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and his counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, during President Xi Jinping’s Manila visit, “will even bolster our country’s position on the UN tribunal’s ruling because we would be exercising our rights granted under this 2015 arbitral award.”
This developed as Locsin appeared not keen on filing a diplomatic protest against China following the Chinese Coast Guard’s stopping of a team from GMA7 Reporter’s Notebook from filming a documentary at Panatag Shoal.
Locsin said filing a diplomatic protest is like “throwing paper against a brick wall” because it would only give the impression to the international community that the country is “weak” and China is “immovable.”
But he later said he is not closing the door to protesting the incident, adding he may raise the issue before the United Nations, especially if the situation escalates.
Later in a Twitter post, Locsin said if a similar incident would take place, he might agree to a previous agreement for greater coordination and cooperation between the Philippine and Chinese Coast Guards.
“I am now regretting rejecting a proposed agreement for ever tighter coordination and cooperation between the Coast Guards of China and of the Philippines. I will look at that proposed agreement,” he added.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo earlier said it would be better if GMA7 would file a complaint so that the DFA can write a letter to China to ask whether or not it has a policy of not allowing filming or making documentaries in the shoal located off the coast of Zambales. – With Wendell Vigilia and Ashzel Hachero |
