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Chinese ambassador, Erwin Tulfo meet amid ‘word war’
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Erwin Tulfo and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan met Monday amidst the “word war” between officials from the two countries, with both men agreeing to move forward with more dialogue and a goal to sign the South China Sea Code of Conduct by December.
The meeting between the two facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) at hotel in Pasay City and attended by Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro lasted for a more than an hour.
“It’s candid and constructive. We had a very frank conversation with each other. We all agreed to continue having a dialogue with each other, keep the communication lines open. That’s very important,” Jing told GMA Integrated News after the meeting.
Tulfo said Jing raised the use of a caricature to depict Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he explained that it’s all part of democracy.
“‘Yun nga, lang nasaktan daw sila. Sabi n’ya I hope you understand, ‘yung ibang leaders, sa Thailand makukulong ka daw ‘pag may sinabi ka na masama. Sabi ko sa atin naman, we’re a democratic country, ‘yung mga leader nga namin sinusunog mga effigy nila, we don’t complain, our leaders don’t complain,” he said.
(He said they were hurt by it. He said, I hope you understand, and that in Thailand you would be jailed if you said something bad [about their leaders]. I said we're a democratic country and we even burn our leaders' effigies.)
Tulfo added that China did not mind the Senate resolution that condemned remarks by some officials at the Chinese embassy against Philippine officials, and was itself slammed by the Chinese Embassy as being "anti-China."
“The ambassador was like saying he respects, hindi naman n’ya pwedeng kontrolin ‘yung Senado. He respects what we did, ‘yung resolution that we made, sabi n’ya karapatan natin ‘yun,” Tulfo said.
(The ambassador said he respects it, and he can't control the Senate. He said it was our right.)
Tulfo also said that there was no discussion about toning down the rhetoric.
“Wala, hindi, hindi, para naman tayong we’re giving in, alam naman nila. Nobody can dictate on us because it’s in our Constitution, sabi naman n’ya we respect your Constitution,” he said.
(They know it would be like we were giving in.)
Both sides agreed to better relations, citing efforts at coming up with a memorandum of understanding between their respective coast guards in March and coming up with a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea at the end of the year.
The COC will govern claimant countries in the South China Sea, which includes the West Philippine Sea.
Tulfo said that the document on the memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the Chinese and Philippine Coast Guards from the Chinese side is expected in March.
Recent years saw Chinese Coast Guard water cannoning Philippine resupply vessels and Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.
The MOU will include patrolling the area, Tulfo said.
“Para hindi na magkasakitan [So that there will be no more harm to each other], cooperation, clean-up, search and rescue, patrolling the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
According to Tulfo, Jing committed to finish the Code of Conduct this year.
“Gusto n’ya agad matapos ‘yung COC, ‘yung code of conduct [He wants the COC to be completed],” he said. — BM, GMA Integrated News
