PH preparing for planned visit by new China FM Qin Gang —sources

Philippine officials are preparing to receive new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who plans to visit Manila later this week, diplomatic sources told GMA News Online Tuesday.

The visit by Qin may happen either Friday or Saturday and will involve a meeting between him and his Philippine counterpart, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, the high-ranking sources said.

It remains unclear if China’s top diplomat will meet President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

GMA News Online sought a statement from the Chinese Embassy, but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

Sources said Qin’s final schedule is “very fluid,” noting that “it can change anytime.”

“As of today, the plan is for him to come later this week,” one of the sources said.

The planned visit of Qin comes at a troublesome time between China and the Philippines.

China has strongly opposed a decision by the Marcos administration to grant US military forces access to additional sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in northern Luzon, which Chinese officials said will be used by the US to possibly intervene in the Taiwan issue.

Chinese Foreign Ministry officials warned that granting greater access to US troops in the Philippines endangers regional peace and security, as they cited concerns by “many insightful people in the Philippines” that such move could draw the country “into the whirlpool of a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait.”

“The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair and its resolution is a matter for the Chinese. It is not the Chinese side that is heightening cross-strait tensions, but the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces in the island and certain countries that support these forces,” the ministry said.

China, which considers Taiwan as part of its territory that it envisions to reclaim by force “if necessary,” opposes any high-level contacts with the island and called on countries to adhere to the One-China Policy.

Taiwan is a self-ruling democratic island that separated from mainland China in 1949.

Three of the four additional EDCA locations facing Taiwan are Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana in Cagayan province, Lal-lo Airport also in Cagayan, and Camp Melchos Dela Cruz in Gamu , Isabela. The fourth site is in Balabac Island in Palawan, the Philippine island province closest to the disputed Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea, where China and the Philippines have long had overlapping claims.  

“Judging from the locations of the new military bases, the intention behind those sites is more than obvious,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry had stated.

The initial five predetermined EDCA sites are located in Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan – also near the disputed South China Sea - Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City.

Over the weekend, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian drew criticisms from various sectors, including Philippine government officials and lawmakers, when he said that the Philippines is “advised” to “unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan Independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs.”

“Some tried to find excuse for the new EDCA sites by citing the safety of the 150,000 OFWs in Taiwan, while China is the last country that wishes to see conflict over the Strait because people on both sides are Chinese,” he said.

“But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities.”

Huang also accused the US of taking advantage of the new EDCA sites “to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals, and advance its anti-China agenda at the expense of peace and development of the Philippines and the region at large.”

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the Chinese envoy should be recalled over his remarks, which the Chinese Embassy said were “misinterpreted and taken out of context.”

"How dare he threaten us," said Hontiveros. “Filipinos will thrive and make a living according to our wishes. We will never let Beijing decide on the future of Filipino families. Their destiny is not in China’s hands."

The Department of National Defense likewise took exception to Huang's remarks that the Philippines is "stoking the fire" with EDCA, while National Security Council spokesperson Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said “the Philippines has no intention of interfering in the Taiwan issue and will not allow itself to be used by other countries to interfere in the said issue.”

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said EDCA, which provides greater US military access to Philippine bases and deployment of rotating batches of American troops, is “a key pillar” of Manila and Washington’s defense and military cooperation.  

EDCA also gives the US the right to construct facilities and pre-position military equipment, aircraft and vessels, but prohibits permanent basing and the storage of nuclear weapons. The Philippine Constitution bans foreign military bases in the country unless covered by a treaty. —KBK, GMA Integrated News