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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
**MANILA, Aug. 29 (APD) ** – Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said President Duterte has made it clear that the time has come, after exerting a lot of diplomatic capital to build a reservoir of goodwill and friendship after meeting for at least seven times, to talk about issues surrounding Philippines-China relations.
Speaking to Filipino media practitioners who accompanied the presidential entourage, Ambassador Sta. Romana in an interview broadcast live in Manila today said sensitive issues will be discussed tonight. He said these issues may have caused misunderstanding “if it were brought up in the past.”
He said one of the sensitive issues is the arbitration award, though mentioned in the past were not in direct or honest discussions.
“We have no illusion that we can solve the issue overnight. I think the important thing is to bring it to the fore of the diplomatic agenda,” the former newsman and Beijing resident for over four decades said.
He also mentioned the oil and gas cooperation as well as the issue of the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea. Other issues up for discussion include the areas of economic cooperation in the economic and infrastructure area as well as the security cluster.
Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana before his press engagement with Filipino media in Beijing a few hours before President Rodrigo Duterte meets President Xi Jinping. (Philippine Embassy - Beijing Photo)
“I think the President is very much interested to move forward on the MOU on oil and gas cooperation that was signed last November, as the MOU provides a road map for moving forward,” he added.
He admitted for the past two months, the Philippine side submitted its proposed terms of reference to the Chinese side, with the Chinese side agreeing to it and submitted their letters, their notes of the agreement last July.
He surmised to move forward, the possibility exists the two sides will discuss the need to form the joint steering committee and the working committees, joint entrepreneurial working committees “composed of the companies that will actually be engaged in the cooperation.”
“The basic approach is to manage the differences peacefully, diplomatically through high-level summits, through bilateral consultancy mechanism and to move forward on areas of cooperation so as to propel forward and to maintain the positive trajectory of Philippines-China relations,” Ambassador Sta. Romana concluded.
(Top image: Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana (center) meets with Manila-based media a few hours before the top-level meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping. /Philippine Embassy photo)
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
