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Ex-envoy Cuisia: China was ‘duplicitous’ in the Scarborough agreement


It was duplicitous and deceitful of China to breach the 2012 agreement between Beijing and Manila in which both parties agreed to simultaneously withdraw their vessels from the Scarborough Shoal, former Philippine Ambassador to United States Jose Cuisia said Sunday.

Cuisia said the United States confirmed to him that China had agreed to do the simultaneous withdrawal and they expected the fellow Asian country to abide by the agreement.

"We had an agreement with China brokered by the United States particularly Assistant Secretary [Kurt] Campbell that we will simultaneously withdraw ships from the Scarborough Shoal. It is China who breached the agreement as [former DFA] Secretary [Albert] del Rosario said China is to blame for that because we acted in good faith," Cuisia told GMA News Online in an interview via Zoom.

"The US confirmed to me that China agreed to the simultaneous withdrawal on a certain date. However, [Philippine] ships withdrew and they (China) did not. And we expected China to act in good faith to the simultaneous withdrawal of our ships that was supposed to be on June 15," he added.

Given what had transpired, Cuisia was puzzled why President Rodrigo Duterte would come to China's defense despite its failure to abide by the 2012 agreement.

"Why is he (Duterte) defending the Chinese? Isn't he the Philippine President?" Cuisia said partly in Filipino.

Duterte, who previously called China the Philippines' "good friend," claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping told him it was former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio and Del Rosario who gave up the islands to China.

Withdrew ships to ease tensions

The former ambassador also explained that they created the agreement to protect the lives of Filipino soldiers whose ships were outnumbered by of China during the standoff at the disputed waters.

"We were afraid that we will lose Filipino lives. Filipinos' lives are important to us. We wanted to ease the tensions we wanted to avoid confrontation between Chinese forces and Filipino forces," said Cuisia, in a mix of Filipino and English.

"We have no chance if China and the Philippines had an encounter," he added.

Cuisia also cited that they were trying to avoid an incident such as the clash between Vietnam and China at the Paracels, where more than 70 members of Vietnam's military died.

"Why would we withdraw? We wanted to save lives. We saw what has happened to China and Vietnam," Cuisia said.

US ready to help

In a previous Talk to the Nation briefing, Duterte claimed the United States was "all talk" as it failed to assist Philippine security forces in defending territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

But Cuisia said the United States was ready to help the Philippines in protecting its sovereignty, adding that it would also avoid violent attacks between the two Asian nations.

"US is ready to help. They were there, they were ready of course. They wanted to avoid heavy and violent clashes with the Chinese. If we were attacked, I'm sure the US will come to our defense," he said.

"What the President is saying is, of course, hypothetical but the US wanted to avoid a violent clash," Cuisia added. — DVM, GMA News

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