No joint sea exploration deal will be signed in China yet —envoy

BOAO, Hainan — A deal to jointly explore disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea will not be among the agreements China and the Philippines will enter into during President Rodrigo Duterte's visit in China this week.

Philippine officials, however, are hoping to come up with an agreement in the next two months, according to Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana.

"There is political willingness on both sides to try to achieve an agreement as soon as possible, but it won’t be tomorrow," he said.

"I think the best estimate I’ve gotten is from [Foreign Affairs] Secretary Cayetano. We’re trying to see if we can achieve an agreement hopefully within the next couple of months," said Sta. Romana.

The ambassador said both countries want to ensure that whatever agreement they will come up with will have a legal framework that is in accordance with both countries' laws and parameters.

"It has to stand public scrutiny. It has to be acceptable to the Filipino people," he said.

Sta. Romana said the Philippines wants joint exploration to address the country's energy needs through a "peaceful and diplomatic solution so that we can finally explore and develop the resources that belong to us and avoid making it a source of conflict."

President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China this week to attend the Boao Forum for Asia and hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Among the topics Duterte and Xi may discuss in their meeting is the issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, but the two leaders are looking to work on areas of cooperation, said the ambassador.

"As you know, the Philippine policy towards the South China Sea disputes or the West Philippine Sea dispute is basically like a two-track policy. We have the contentious issues --- who owns the Scarborough Shoal, who owns the Spratlys, you know, the Nine-Dash Line, arbitral tribunal. These are contentious issues on which we have differences of views with China, on which we use diplomacy," he said.

He said the Philippines brings up contentious issues of land reclamation and militarization through the Bilateral Consultative Mechanism which has already met twice--one in May 2017 and one last February.

"The basic approach there is that we know that some of these issues will take time so we exchange views, we try to bridge our differences. At the same time, we try to look for areas of cooperation because aside from the contentious issues, there are other issues that are non-contentious, and this is the other track we follow--whether trade or investment, culture or art, or science and technology," he said.

The issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea will also be discussed in a special panel in the Boao Forum on April 11, according to Sta. Romana.

The Philippines will be represented in the panel by a Filipino diplomat and former Energy secretary Raphael Lotilla. —ALG, GMA News