China, Philippines to hold high-level economic meeting

Although China and the Philippines do not see eye to eye on the issue of the Spratly Islands, a high-level trade and economic meeting between the two countries will still take place this week.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. will be leaving for China Friday to represent the country in the one-day meeting.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Cristobal said this was actually an annual meeting between trade officials of China and the Philippines, with the purpose of updating each other on economic activities and exploring ways to further strengthen economic ties.

For this meeting, Cristobal said, one of the main thrusts is to finalize a five-year development program for trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

“We want to come up with medium-term strategies and measures. We’re working on the drafts now,” Cristobal said.

A review of the two countries’ respective export and import statistics would also be undertaken to reconcile discrepancies, Cristobal added.

Cristobal said that the Chinese and Philippine representatives would likewise be revisiting a memorandum of agreement signed two years ago on industrial product safety for possible implementation.

Public-private partnership projects would also be brought up, he said, but this would not be a focus item on the agenda, as a separate PPP roadshow was already conducted in China earlier in the year.

Also, the Spratlys issue will not be brought up, Cristobal said.

“That’s a political and security issue. We won’t be discussing that. Historically, political issues don’t affect trade and economic relationships. The fact that we’re pushing through with the meeting shows that whatever political issues we have don’t affect our trade and economic relations,” Cristobal explained.