PHL won’t exchange sovereignty for Chinese prosperity — Cayetano

While declaring that the Philippines would never give up "a single inch" of its sovereignty for prosperity from China, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that any prosperity gained by the Philippines from its dealings with its larger neighbor would be the result of how the country deals with the territorial issues between the two nations.

"[I]t’s not really between prosperity and sovereignty; it’s how you fight for your sovereignty and, at the same time, take care of your people. So the prosperity of the Filipinos coming from China is not because we gave up sovereignty, but because [of] how we are dealing with issues of territorial claims and sovereignty," Cayetano said during a press conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

He was replying to a question about the Chinese investments in the Philippines, and whether "prosperity first, sovereignty second" would be a fair assessment of the current administration's stance on its dealings with China.

"China has not asked us—and I can tell you this very honestly, whether closed door or in open—they have never asked us to give up our claims. They have simply asked us to put some order in how we will discuss these claims and where we should discuss these claims," Cayetano added.

"And you’ve seen how ASEAN was handled last year, and you saw our statements. And the Philippines was able to steer it quite well, and I have to give the credit to the Filipinos."

During the Philippines' chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year, the regional body altered the final statement of its 30th summit amid Chinese pressure and instead issued a watered-down communique that removed references to China's massive land reclamation and militarization in the disputed waters—references that had been featured in the bloc's two previous communiques the year before.

The 31st summit, also held in Manila last November, also skirted around China's militarization efforts in the contested waters.

No war

Cayetano added that the Philippines would rather spend money on "education and health" than its defenses, as the government does not "want a war" in the region where "no one will win."

"Yes, we want to fight for what is ours, but we don’t want a war. And no one in our region wants a war because no one will win... We rather spend our money on education, on health," he said.

Cayetano also claimed that the Philippines' attempt to ask for protection from its more technologically advanced Western allies was met with a noncommittal response.

"You know what was the answer of our Western allies? 'We don’t get involved in issues of territorial claims.' So what are we going to do," Cayetano said, adding that the arbitration court in The Hague that handed the Philippines its victory in the territorial dispute did not have an enforcement mechanism.

Cayetano also brought up Malaysia and Vietnam, two countries the Philippines also has territorial disputes with.

"We have claims against them. So do we stop our relationship or do we start fighting Vietnam and Malaysia? Do we start arguing with them in every forum available, because we have a dispute regarding sovereignty?" he said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on Tuesday in which they agreed that a "joint development of offshore oil development" in the disputed territories must continue.

Such activities, the two sides reportedly agreed, would be conducted “without prejudice to their respective positions on sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction.”

China claims nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, and has been building structures on reefs also claimed by the Philippines.

Last year, China unveiled its "magic island maker," a massive dredging vessel reported to have been extensively used in building artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Last week, an apparent Chinese "blueprint" for Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal showed plans for an airport, a residential zone, a channel harbor, as well as a runway, power and water plant to turn the shoal into a "tropical travel and holiday area."

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that China has installed signal-jamming equipment on Mischief Reef. — Rie Takumi/BM, GMA News