PH, CHINA REACHED 'UNDERSTANDING' IN AYUNGIN ROW, EMBASSY CLAIMS

THE Philippines made two "arrangements" with China last year toward a peaceful resolution to the dispute over the Ayungin Shoal, a ranking Chinese official told The Manila Times.

The official, who agreed to an exclusive interview with The Times as long as his identity is not revealed, described the arrangements as a "new internal understanding" and a "new model" that are completely different from the earlier "gentlemen's agreement" between former president Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese authorities.

The agreement, reached in November 2021, was meant "to manage the situation" in Ayungin, or what the Chinese refer to as Ren'ai Jiao, and "how to interact and trust each other without prejudice to respective positions on sovereignty and sovereignty rights and jurisdictions of the two countries."

"The gentlemen's agreement has nothing to do with sovereignty; it's for peace and stability," the official said. "It is more of a technical arrangement, like how many ships could both sides put in place in the disputed areas, and how both sides will interact on the spot. It's more of a confidence-building measure, the interaction model on the spot."

The official said China has been trying to convince the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to agree to a new understanding on ending the territorial row.

China has also briefed the Philippine leadership on multiple occasions after the Philippines abandoned the gentlemen's agreement in February 2023, the official said.

"Our goal is to persuade the Philippines to go back to the gentlemen's agreement, and maintain peace and stability," he said.

In September, the Chinese government invited the Special Envoy of the President to China for Special Concerns to Beijing for consultations, the official said.

During the meeting, the two sides reached a "new internal understanding" on how to manage the situation in Ayungin Shoal.

At the end of 2023, a "new model" on how to de-escalate tensions in Ayungin was reached between the two countries through the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Command, the official said.

"In particular, we got repeated confirmation that both the internal understanding and the new model were approved by key figures of the whole chain of command, including the [National Security Adviser and the Secretary of the National Defense]," the official said.

As a result, the resupply mission to the military outpost on the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin last February 2 was conducted without any incident, he said.

The official said Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, the AFP spokesman, posted on social media that the Philippines "executed a flawless rotation and resupply operation."

"But it's kind of mysterious that she quickly deleted that particular social media post," the official said. "But the internet has memory, and there is the screenshot, so we were able to preserve that particular post."

Things went out of control after the internal understanding and the new model were dropped unilaterally by the Philippine side "for no reason and no explanation," he said.

"Unfortunately, the Philippine side gave only one shot to both the internal understanding and the new model, even though these produced positive results," he said.

"We have been asking ourselves the same questions: why did the gentlemen's agreement, the internal understanding, and the new model fail? What happened? There must be a reason. This is something that wracks our brains," the official said.

"In this process, we feel there is an outside force behind all this," he said. "If you look at the timeline, you will find the answers." After the uneventful resupply mission to Ayungin in February, "some Americans" visited the country, the official said.

"For example, there is one American who even asked us if we could guarantee that the next resupply mission will go as smoothly as the (February) operation," he said.

The official also mentioned a so-called American expert, apparently referring to retired United States Air Force Col. Ray Powell, "coming here taking part in various seminars and talking on television," followed by high-level visits of US government officials who were praising the Philippines for "doing a good job" in "successfully" implementing its approach to countering China's perceived aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, a tactic termed as "assertive transparency."

Powell had advocated using photographs and videos to expose the harassment by Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels of the resupply boats and their escorts.

Powell heads SeaLight, a maritime transparency project that monitors and reports activities in the South China Sea.

The Chinese official also denied the report that China will carry out "economic coercion" against the Philippines, such as cutting trade ties or implementing "economic sanctions." "This report is not coming from the Philippines. This report emanated from just one country outside of the region," he said.

"The term economic coercion is the invention of another country, which is what it is doing all the time to other countries, including China," he added in a veiled reference to the US.

Since the Philippine side has unilaterally scrapped the three agreements, "that means China is doing what it plans to do, and the Philippines will do what it plans to do," the official said.

He appealed for "a common ground, a common understanding, to maintain peace and stability in the region."

With tensions in the South China Sea rising, the Philippines has decided to deepen its security alliances with the US and other western countries.

Next month, France and the Philippines will begin talks on a defense pact that would allow troops from each country to hold exercises in the other's territory, the French ambassador to Manila said Thursday.

French and Philippine officials will meet in Paris next month for talks on a visiting forces agreement, Ambassador Marie Fontanel said.

She said the defense chiefs of both countries agreed in Manila last December to pursue such an accord.

"We will have an opportunity in May to maybe start officially the negotiations or, at least, discuss the modalities," Fontanel said at a news conference with French Ambassador to the Indo-Pacific Marc Abensour.

The Philippines has status-of-forces agreements with the US and Australia. The agreements provide a legal framework for the entry of foreign forces into a country.

Manila has pursued similar agreements with other countries, including Japan and France, amid escalating disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Since last year, Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships and accompanying vessels have been involved in high-seas skirmishes which included minor collisions and injuries to Philippine navy personnel near disputed shoals in the contested waters.

In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-running territorial disputes, a potential Asian flashpoint that could bring the US and China into a collision course if disputes escalate into a major conflict.

France has been boosting its security engagements with the Philippines. A French navy ship is joining US and Philippine navy ships as part of this year's Balikatan exercises that started Monday.

With the Agence France Presse

2024-04-26T16:36:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd