South China Sea: Duterte rejects call to drop contracts with Chinese firms

Philippine foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jnr said Manila should join the US in blacklisting 24 Chinese companies involved in building artificial islands

But President Rodrigo Duterte has said the Philippines is a free and independent country, and needs Chinese investment

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said infrastructure projects with Chinese-owned companies would go ahead, and the country will not follow the US lead in blacklisting companies involved in building artificial islands. Photo: AP

Published: 9:47pm, 1 Sep 2020Updated: 11:35am, 2 Sep 2020

As Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte rejected his foreign secretary’s strong recommendation to end business deals with Chinese firms that built artificial islands in the South China Sea, an analyst said banning these companies would make them accountable for their “crime against humanity”.

Chinese envoy to Manila Huang Xilian praised Duterte’s pursuit of an independent foreign policy and said, “the pragmatic cooperation between China and the Philippines has always been based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results, and all projects are all conducted in compliance with the existing laws and regulations....I believe that any attempt to undermine the normal economic cooperation between China and the Philippines will never succeed.”

In an interview with a local radio station, Huang also said, “The participation of Chinese companies and individuals in domestic construction activities is legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach, lies entirely within its sovereignty. The move by the US side, under the pretext of protecting the South China Sea, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and aims to drive a wedge between China and regional countries.”

On August 26, the US commerce department announced sanctions on 24 Chinese state-owned companies that had played a “role in helping the Chinese military” build up seven South China Sea reefs into islands with military installations. These firms would be banned from buying US technology and products and doing business with US corporations.

Two days later, Philippine foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jnr. told CNN Philippines that if any of these Chinese companies have government contracts or are in any way involved in the reclamation of the islands, “then I would strongly recommend we terminate that relationship with that company”.

However, Locsin’s recommendation appears to have fallen by the wayside. On Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte had stated that the US can blacklist Chinese companies in American territory. “But the president clearly said he would not follow the directive of the Americans because we are a free and independent country and we need the investors coming from China,” Roque said.