PH, China to sign 5 bilateral deals during Duterte’s visit to Beijing — DFA
Credit to Author: CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT| Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2019 04:05:48 +0000
THE Philippines and China are scheduled to sign at least five bilateral agreements when President Rodrigo Duterte makes his visit to Beijing this week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters during a pre-departure briefing in Malacañang,
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Meynardo Montealegre said the five agreements would boost cooperation in the field of education, anti-corruption, official development assistance, and drug rehabilitation.
“But it’s in the final stages of consultations,” the DFA official said.
Duterte will visit China for the fourth time this week to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. He will have a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Montealegre said Duterte would join Xi and 39 other leaders and heads of international organizations to the forum, to be held from April 25 to 27.
He said the President would be one of the lead speakers at the Leaders’ Roundtable on April 27.
“The main outcome document is a joint communiqué of the Leaders’ Rountable of the Second Belt and Road Forum and this is currently being negotiated among the participating countries,” Montealegre said.
Duterte first set foot in China as President in a state visit in October 2016. This was followed by his attendance to the Belt and Road Forum in May 2017 and the Boao Forum in April 2018.
Duterte has sought closer ties with China even as the Philippines has yet to resolve its disputes with the Asian power over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
China is claiming nearly all of the resource-rich strategic waterway, conflicting with partial claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. It, however, has ignored a July 2016 ruling of a United Nations-backed panel that invalidated its assertion of sovereignty over the waters in response to a Philippine plea.
Duterte has repeatedly refused to invoke the arbitral ruling and instead opted to seek a peaceful engagement with Beijing with regard to the long-standing sea row.
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