Aquino eyes 2 candidates as envoy to China

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III expresses his views during the Coffee Meeting with the Philippine Media delegation during the 20th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit at the Building 3, Far Eastern Federal University in Russky Island, Vladivostok, Russia. MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU FILE PHOTO

RUSSKIY ISLAND, VLADIVOSTOK, Russia – After failing to sit down with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the recently concluded Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) Leaders’ Summit here, President Aquino is keen on plucking a career official from the Department of Foreign Affairs as the Philippine envoy to China.

“There are two names being suggested and both seem to be very competent. I just have to talk to them,” said the President in a briefing with reporters.

Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Sonia Brady, 71, suffered a massive stroke late last month and she has remained confined in a Beijing hospital. Brady was appointed by the President.

The President coaxed Brady, who served in the same post from 2006 to 2010 under the Arroyo administration, out of retirement four months ago  to replace former Ambassador Domingo Lee, who has been bypassed several times by the Commission on Appointments . Brady’s successor will be the third leadership change in the Philippine embassy in China in a little over two years of the Aquino administration.

“Of course, we weren’t expecting to replace Ambassador Brady so soon. Even her health issue, she was actually examined before that and she passed,” said the President.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario expressed disappointment on the “missed opportunity” from the failure of the President to meet with Hu in the two-day APEC meeting here which concluded Sunday.

This would have been the first face-to-face meeting between the President and Hu after the President’s state visit to China last year.

Ties between the Philippines and China have been strained over the past few months due to a lingering dispute on the Panatag (Scarborough) shoal and Spratly’s islands in the West Philippine Sea.