CHINA has offered a wider market for Philippine products as it crafts a policy on modernization that is inclusive for other developing countries.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian bared the proffered cooperation agreement with the country at Tuesday’s Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery where he discussed the impact of the 20th China Communist Party congress that elected Chinese leader Xi Jinping to a third 5-year term last weekend.
Huang said China is committed to buying Philippine fruits and, in reply to a question on how many will his country buy, he countered, “how many can the Philippines produce?”
China has already bought $450 million in bananas and has also bought Philippine avocado for the first time. He noted that durian from the Philippines is tasty and that his country will soon source its durian imports from the country.
The recent congress is tuned to modernization prospects and is geared to forging a shared destiny with other countries. Huang said a “global village” is to be expected as a result of China’s push for its Belt and Road Initiative and global security initiative that will be helpful to other countries and that frowns on colonization.
The 5,000-kilometer Great Wall of China is meant for defense, and not for aggression, the Chinese envoy said, as an analogy as he pushed forward China’s intention to modernize in away that will “also benefit the rest of the world.”
For the Philippines, China is offering partnerships in infrastructure development, clean energy, R and D, 5G connectivity, and a supermarket for Philippine products, even as it further promotes China-Philippine cooperation that “seeks to improve the quality of life” of both China and the Philippines.
China, Huang added, aims to push the limits of cooperation with the Philippines and other countries that “will go hand in hand [with] and [with a view] to benefiting from each other.”
On the question of the South China Sea, Huang said he is pleased that the fishermen of both China and the Philippines are, in his words, getting along peacefully. He believes maritime cooperation should be promoted, as he expressed hope that a joint drilling exploration in the area—an undertaking begun by the Duterte administration, but which both Manila and Beijing had to formally set aside on legal issues in early 2022—can be undertaken.
On the question of Philippine Overseas Gaming Operators (POGOs) against which an outcry has recently been revived amid a spike in violent incidents related to some operators, Huang reiterated that China considers POGOs illegal, as it remains firm in its policy banning online gaming.
Huang exchange with some senators he visited recently drew controversy after Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri disclosed at a Senate hearing that Beijing’s top envoy had told them Manila is on some sort of a “blacklist” as a tourist destination owing to its continued hosting of POGOs. Huang subsequently clarified that China has not blacklisted the Philippines, even as he stressed his government’s appeal for its neighbor to stop online gaming, noting the high number of Chinese citizens back home whose lives have been ruined by gambling.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Philippines suffers a great “reputational risk” from hosting POGOs, as the crimes—abductions, human trafficking, extortion—linked to some POGO parties are a turnoff for investors and visitors.
Both the Executive and Congress are weighing, though, the implications of a call to totally ban the POGOs, on the ground that, as critics put it, the revenue and jobs they bring in cannot compensate for the downside in terms of damage to reputation and peace and order.
Image credits: PNA
China envoy: We offer wider market for PHL goods
Source: News Paper Radio
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