China Says it Plans to Include the Philippines in its ‘Maritime Silk Road’ initiative
MANILA—China plans to include the Philippines in its “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” initiative designed to boost regional trade despite tensions between the two countries, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said in a statement Friday, further extending its diplomatic outreach in Southeast Asia.
Maps outlining the proposed “Maritime Silk Road,” which Beijing aims to create through a string of strategic investments in regional ports collectively worth $40 billion, had appeared to bypass the Philippines, a traditional center of East Asian commerce. The Philippine media leapt on this omission, interpreting it as deliberate punishment for Manila’s dogged opposition to China in their territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
But the embassy said that the Chinese government has yet to publish any official maps of the proposed route, and reassured the Philippines that it was very much part of China’s plans for the region.
“The Philippines is definitely part of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road, as well as a member of the China-ASEAN maritime cooperation,” the statement said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
China welcomes the Philippines “to be a proactive and constructive partner” in the silk road project, the statement continued.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to questions.
The olive branch came after a friendly encounter between Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing, which raised hopes that Sino-Philippine relations may be over the worst. The two leaders had a 10-minute conversation, which Mr. Aquino described afterward as a “meeting of minds” marked by “warmth” and “sincerity.”
China has intensified its diplomatic efforts in the wake of the APEC conference. On Thursday, Beijing proposed a defense hot line and greater economic aid for Southeast Asian countries as part of its strategy to appease nations that have been at odds with Beijing over its growing military assertiveness.
The Philippines and China have been at loggerheads since late 2012 when Chinese vessels took control of Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area of reefs in the South China Sea. Manila’s subsequent decision to file a legal case against China at an international tribunal in The Hague strained ties even further, and led many in the Philippines to assume that the country would be excluded by China as it invests generously in other Southeast Asian states.
At the Asean Summit in Myanmar, which immediately followed the APEC gathering, Mr. Aquino on Thursday struck a far more conciliatory tone toward China than he has at previous summits. With Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in the audience, Mr. Aquino said that he saw “an opportunity to maximize China’s role as a partner of Asean,” and simply urged all parties to the South China Sea disputes to settle them according to “the rule of law.”
Richard Javad Heydarian, a political-science professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said the Philippine government had blundered strategically in “placing all its eggs in the legal basket” through its action at The Hague. Now, with other countries in the region as well as the U.S. working hard to engage China, and with the Philippines itself “worrying about the economic costs of its confrontational approach,” Manila may be ready to start working more constructively with Beijing, he said.
The Philippines has shown no sign of withdrawing its legal challenge to China’s so-called “Nine-Dash Line” claim to most of the South China Sea, however, and security analysts say that could be an obstacle to the restoration of friendly ties. © Provided by TREFOR MOSS I THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Write to Trefor Moss at Trefor.Moss@wsj.com
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