DFA OFFICIAL SAYS
Linking NBN to Spratlys deal threatens RP-China relations
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:17:00 03/19/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The country’s relations with China are “in serious jeopardy” because of the "unsubstantiated" linking of bilateral agreements with the emerging economic giant to the alleged corruption in the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China's ZTE Corp.
This was revealed by a senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), who asked not to be named as she is not authorized to speak on the matter, who also blamed the United States, a major economic rival of China, for “fueling” the controversy over China-related agreements and issues.
The senior Filipino diplomat insisted that the NBN controversy is not in anyway linked with the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) or even the dispute over the Spratlys, as both have been the subject of continuing diplomatic reviews over the past 10 years.
"We are putting our diplomatic relations with China in serious jeopardy because the ZTE investigation is being linked to the JMSU. The Chinese government is now raising protest on the way we handle the matter," she said.
"The US has been wanting to be involved in the oil exploration in the South China Sea but the Philippines has already agreed to undertake this with China," the diplomat explained.
The senior diplomat also blames the public’s eroding trust in the Arroyo administration for compounding the problem. “The problem is the Arroyo administration has lost its credibility to govern and anything it does now is being viewed with distrust,” she said.
On the other hand, another DFA official privy to the negotiations on the JMSU said the so-called Spratlys deal, the tripartite agreement with China and Vietnam for the joint seismic survey, was separately negotiated from the economic agreements with China like North Rail and the NBN project.
The official explained that even as the Philippine National Oil Company signed the agreement with its counterparts in China and Vietnam, the JMSU was internally discussed by an interagency team that includes officials from the DFA, National Security Council, Department of Energy, and the Department of Justice.
The JMSU was signed by the national oil companies of Philippines, China, and Vietnam in September 2005 as part of the confidence-building measures of claimant countries to the Spratly islands, she said.
The diplomat recalled that the interagency teams held several meetings at the DFA to discuss the JMSU "because we were going to break new ground in regional diplomacy but we had to make sure it was aboveboard."
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