PCG: China wants revival of joint coast guard committee meeting under Marcos admin

The Chinese government is pushing to revive the joint committee meeting between the China Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) under the current administration, the PCG said Wednesday.

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said the annual Joint Coast Guard Committee (JCGC) meeting was initiated during the Duterte administration, however, no substantial agreement was made between the two parties when it comes to the tension in the WPS.

“We keep on talking to them, we keep on meeting with them annually buong time ng administrasyon ng dating Pangulong Duterte pero wala naman talaga tayong naging substantial na agreement na masasabi nating we all agreed na hindi na nila tayo iha-harass,” he told Super Radyo dzBB in an interview.

(We kept on talking and meeting with them annually throughout the entire administration of former President Duterte, but we never really had a substantial agreement where we can say that we all agreed that they will not harass us anymore.)

“We had an opportunity to meet with the China Coast Guard leadership…kaya lang, wala naman talagang naging [however, there was no] substantial outcome,” he added.

In 2017, during the JCGC meeting held in Subic, Zambales, China and the Philippines agreed to strengthen their maritime cooperation in the “sectors of preventing and combating drug trafficking and other transnational crimes, [search and rescue], environment protection and emergency response.”

The memorandum of understanding for these training exercises was signed in Beijing in October 2017 and was witnessed by former President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Asked what is the status of this coordination now, considering the statement of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that the Philippines will not surrender an inch of its territory, including the WPS, Tarriela said, “The Chinese government is still pushing na i-revive itong [to revive this] joint coast guard committee meeting between the China Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard.”

“But right now, our stand of the national government is that all these discussions should be coursed through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Diplomatic channel ang ating means na ngayon [the diplomatic channel is now our means] to communicate with them,” he added.

Tarriela also said that under the Marcos administration, China’s aggressive behavior in the WPS is more exposed, and the public is being more informed of what is happening there and what the Philippine forces are experiencing there. 

GMA News Online sought a comment from the Chinese Embassy regarding PCG’s statement, but it has yet to respond as of posting time. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News