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A trade association of exporters is calling on the government to include economic issues aside from the territorial dispute in the South China Sea in the bilateral talks with Beijing, highlighting it as an important aspect in the relations between the two countries.
Robert Young, president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP), said that commerce, business, and trade components must also be on the table for the continuity of the mutual economic benefit of both countries.
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“The latest bilateral talk did not touch on economic issues. They forgot the economic side of it,” Young said in a phone interview with the Inquirer.
Young, whose trade group are buyers and exporters of furniture, handicrafts and textile products, said that there are concerns that an all-out conflict with China would jeopardize their supply environment, to say the least.
Of the P1 billion worth of garment goods that they export annually, Young said that about half of those are made with cloth and fabric sourced from China.
Aside from this, Young also cited that the Philippines is China’s 24th largest partner with the latest annual bilateral trade reaching $71.9 billion.
On the Philippine side, the FOBAP officials said that China is the country’s second biggest trade partner with approximately $15 billion import and export revenues.
Manila and Beijing on Tuesday held discussions in an effort to de-escalate rising tensions due to the territorial dispute in the South China Sea following the worst confrontation between the two sides on June 17.
Photos and videos of the said confrontation show knife- and ax-wielding Chinese Coast Guard personnel surrounding a Philippine Navy resupply mission to the Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal).
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The Chinese personnel boarded and damaged the Philippines-owned rubber boats, taking some firearms, and causing one Filipino sailor to lose a thumb as a result of a “high-speed ramming.”
The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs on the same day of their meeting with their Chinese counterparts said that both sides “affirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without prejudice to their respective positions.”
The government agency also said there was substantial progress on developing measures to manage the situation in the area.
“The two sides agreed to continue discussions on maritime cooperation between their respective coast guard authorities, including the possible resumption of the Joint Coast Guard Committee (JCGC),” the DFA said in a statement.