Duterte to talk with China’s Xi on April 8

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte yesterday revealed that he is scheduled to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping  this month as he admitted being worried about a possible spillover of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia to the Philippines.

During a meeting of the regional anti-insurgency task force in Cebu, Duterte said there would be “serious trouble” if the Ukraine crisis escalates into a nuclear war.

“China will not just sit idly there, babanat din siya, kukunin niya ang Taiwan (it will respond and it will seize Taiwan),” the President said.

“The problem is, the Philippines would also be affected if there’s a full-scale war because there are Americans here,” he added.

Duterte then revealed that he is scheduled to talk to Xi on April 8.

“We do not have weapons, after all, we are part of it. China is good, I’m scheduled to...is it on the eighth? April 8. Xi Jinping wants to talk to me. We are friends,” he said.

Duterte did not provide details about his engagement with Xi but maintained that he does not want the Philippines to be dragged into the war.

“Ako, hindi ako kakampi kampi ako (I won’t take sides). I just don’t want war to enter my country. And, I will never, never commit the armed forces, my soldiers. I will never commit my soldiers or the police...to participate,” he added.

“Xi and I will talk, perhaps I will say...the Philippines might really be included in the vortex of war.”

Duterte said he has given the Americans the unrestricted access to military facilities but he cannot drive them away.

“They are already there, we cannot ask them to leave and it’s not good at this time to drive away the Americans. So I allowed them the unrestricted use of the airports, the military bases. Because they are already here,” he added.

Duterte announced his meeting with Xi days after the Philippine Coast Guard reported about a Chinese Coast Guard ship’s “close distance maneuvering” towards a Filipino vessel sailing at the vicinity of waters off the Panatag Shoal.

Last Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and three other Southeast Asian officials would visit China from March 31 to April 3 to discuss economic cooperation.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the US Department of State described the situation in the South China Sea as “ground zero” for strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, and that it is important for the Philippines and the United States to coordinate responses to China’s leveraging to coerce claimants.

In a roundtable discussion with journalists on Wednesday, Counselor Derek Chollet, senior policy adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said China’s incursion into Philippine waters and the most recent Chinese Coast Guard vessels dangerous maneuvering close to Philippine Coast Guard ships in the Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal were discussed in all of his meetings with Philippine officials during his visit in Manila.

“What’s happening in the South China Sea is in many ways ground zero for the strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific and it’s very much a test for our international rules,” Chollet said, even as the Philippines and US militaries conducted live-fire exercises in Tarlac as part of Balikatan lasting until April 8.

He reiterated that the US view has been very clear that China has no lawful claim to the area determined by the arbitral tribunal to be part of the Philippines, the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

“We need to coordinate with one another and I know that we do it in Washington also, very important to our embassy here in sharing information and coordinating in our responses to the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to use its leverage to coerce the Philippines or others in the South China Sea,” he added.

The official noted the US stands by its ally, the Philippines and rejects Chinese coercion and aggression in the South China Sea.

“We will uphold our commitments to one another that’s why it’s so important for us to cooperate so closely day in, day out. Whether it’s sharing information or coordinating on our responses because we have a collective interest in ensuring that Philippine rights in the South China Sea are defended,” he added.

The Philippines lodged a diplomatic protest against China over the recent “close distance maneuvering” of Chinese Coast Guard vessels on March 2.

Former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario slammed the Chinese ship’s close maneuver during the Philippine maritime patrol operations of BRP Malabrigo around Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc.

He said the dangerous maneuver by the Chinese Coast Guard vessel that risked a collision and endangered the lives of Filipinos aboard a Philippine Coast Guard ship was “deliberate” and in violation of existing international law and agreements concluded within the International Maritime Organization framework. – Pia Lee-Brago, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edith Regalado, Ralph Edwin Villanueva