PH traders see China visit as best diplomatic tool

MANILA, Philippines—A powerhouse group of Filipino businessmen is flying to Nanjing, China, in September to explore new investments and expansion opportunities even as diplomatic ties between the two countries remain frosty over a territorial dispute.

Businessman Francis Chua said the team would be composed of chief executive officers of the country’s top corporations. The mission is an offshoot of a mission conducted by Chinese businessmen to the Philippines last month.

“We think that business is the best diplomatic tool we have right now,” said Chua.

The Philippines and China exchanged barbs during the last summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) over Manila’s elevation of its territorial dispute with China over the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and parts of the Spratly group of islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) to a United Nations body. China said it would reject any international mediation. Tensions in the disputed waters remain high after China recently deployed its largest patrol boat to reinforce its claim.

Nevertheless, Chua said the businessmen were excited to be going to China, the largest economy in the world after the United States, with the Philippines’ newly upgraded investment rating in hand.

He said that with the Philippines having obtained investment grade status from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, the delegation would have an easier time selling the Philippines as a promising investment hub for tourism, outsourcing, manufacturing and resource-based industries.

Chua said the mission would also be a forum on maximizing low tariff opportunities in the Asean-China Free Trade Zone, the third-largest in the world behind the European Economic Community and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The mission hopes to narrow the investment gap between the Philippines and China as Filipino businessmen invested $130 million in China last year while their Chinese counterparts only put in $65.4 million.

Despite tensions over the islands between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing said trade between the two countries rose by 12.8 percent to $36.3 billion last year, with the Philippines enjoying a surplus of $3 billion.

Chua said last month’s visit of a 50-member delegation of top business executives from China was organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), China’s largest trade organization, the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

Chua, a former chair of the FFCCCII, said the exchange of visits could help ease tensions between the two countries.

The last time a Philippine business delegation visited China was during President Aquino’s state visit in August 2011.