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SOUTH INCLUDED IN ONE BELT, ONE ROAD

China's Silk Road project to help solve Mindanao insurgency, criminality —officials


Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday night said China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may help the Philippines solve insurgency in Mindanao.

"If we can bring in the infrastructure development in the South, it will be included in this One Belt, One Road [initiative]," Lorenzana said in a press conference held in China after the BRI forum.

He said when the investments pour in, the government may be able to address economic problems in Mindanao "and improve the security situation in the country."

"As far as the Defense department is concerned, this is huge because per our study, the drivers of insurgency and criminality in the South is because of lack of economic opportunities for our people," he said.

In the same press conference, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the BRI may be harmonized with the government's six-year infrastructure program.

"As mentioned, these agreements have been issued, entered into not only today, but in the past. So these are… basically what China is doing is consolidating all these efforts in really spreading peace, harmony, cooperation, mutual learning, and the learning through trade and knowledge, and the principle of win-win as their way to say that this is the way to alleviate poverty. 'Yung sinasabi nating 'no one should be left behind,'" Lopez added..

He added: "So when we talk of cooperation, quickly it covers trade, flow, capital flow, technology flow, as well as people flow."

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was part of the Philippine delegation in China, said the BRI's goal "fits our direction of 'Build, Build, Build."

The Duterte administration had recently unveiled its P8.2 trillion infrastructure plan.

"Not only does it lead to a vibrant and inclusive… a more vibrant and more inclusive economy. A more vibrant and inclusive economy also has a good effect or leads towards more law and order," Cayetano said.

"It deals with poverty, it deals with crime, even not only the usual crime that we have but even piracy," he added.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said China's BRI or the maritime Silk Road will link Asia to Europe.

The Silk Road will start from Fujian in China, through the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, the Mediterranean and all the way to Africa.

Lopez said the Silk Road will cover five continents and pass by 100 countries. —ALG/TJD, GMA News

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