Marcos: No deadline on fishing rights talks with China

LABUAN BAJO —President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Tuesday that he would not impose a deadline on the talks with China regarding fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea.

“The deadline is when it’s done because if you set a deadline and it’s not done, what then? It doesn’t help anything,” Marcos said in an interview with reporters.

Marcos said discussions should continue until an agreement would be met regarding the fishing grounds.

The President had tasked the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Coast Guard to identify and create a map of the Philippines’ fishing ground in the West Philippine Sea.

Marcos said he also discussed with the two agencies the proposal of China on the fishing grounds.

"Sinimulan na namin. I talked to the Coast Guard. I talked to the DFA and I said, 'This is the proposal of the Chinese. Let’s see – let’s see if we can accommodate that into our agreement.' So we’re headed there. May progress naman," he said.

When it comes to the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea, Marcos said he would continue to push for it during the ASEAN Summit.

He said tension in the region would not ease if there is no Code of Conduct.

“You cannot stop trying so yes I will bring that up again. Because when we talk about the issues in the West Philippine Sea, in the South China Sea, hindi magkakalma iyan hanggang wala tayong Code of Conduct,” Marcos said.

“Kapag may Code of Conduct lahat susunod. That makes things clearer, walang possibility na magkamali kasi maliwanag na maliwanag dapat ang usapan. So yes, that has always for me, been the key element, in the ASEAN centrality solution to this problem, is really the new code of conduct. Paulit ko ulit ko sinasabi, in every forum I can find sinasabi ko na ang code of conduct kailangan natin tapusin,” he added.

According to the President, there had been challenges which delayed the Code of Conduct. He said this has been complicated due to the bilateral arrangements between member countries and with China, which need to be resolved.

"So the problem is that there are – it gets complicated because there are bilateral arrangements between member countries and with China that have to be resolved, that we need to resolve so that we can have a common Code of Conduct," Marcos said.

"Because over the years siyempre lahat nakikipag-usap sa China, ‘yung iba sa ASEAN dumadaan. Iba-iba ang nangyayari. Kaya napakaimportante na maging maliwanag na may Code of Conduct, ganito ‘yung gagawin natin, this is how we operate. Pagka may problema, dito natin ire-resolve, et cetera," he added.

The proposed Code of Conduct aims to prevent overlapping claims in the potentially oil-rich region from degenerating into violent confrontations, or worse, an economically devastating major conflict.

Marcos earlier pushed for the conclusion of the COC, adding that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should be upheld as the universal framework in oceans and sea activities.

China asserts ownership of the South China Sea nearly in its entirety based on historical accounts.

However, on July 2016, an international arbitral court in The Hague, Netherlands invalidated China’s historical claim over the South China Sea.

As it blatantly ignores the ruling, China has continued to beef up its presence in the contested territories through its military activities and aggression.—LDF, GMA Integrated News