China academic exec wants good ties with PH to last beyond Duterte admin

BEIJING, China – An official of the China Institute of International Studies here is pitching a plan that would essentially maintain the good bilateral ties between the Philippines and China beyond the term of President Duterte.

“There is very concrete data, we have a lot of cooperation. But how to look at the future?” asked Liu Qing, the director of the Institute’s Department for Asia-Pacific Studies during an exchange of ideas with Manila-based journalists Tuesday, October 16.

“I think we need to further make a working plan, something like that. For example, we can have a five-year plan, or a 10-year plan. Medium-term plan, long-term plan,” he said in his very serviceable English.

Liu and a handful of his colleagues met with the Filipino journalists at the Institute’s base, which is the old Embassy of Hungary in the Capital City. The building has been standing since 1890.

The official wants the current state of bilateral relations between the two nations to endure, not unlike the old building.

He acknowledged President Duterte’s hand in improving these ties, which was at a low point in 2013 because of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) territorial disputes.

“It’s only because of President Duterte. After him, who? We need a strategic plan,” Liu stressed.

Duterte, who won the Palace race via landslide in 2016, is already a mutliple-time China visitor as president. He began what has been described as the Philippines’s pivot to China, which has since inspired other ASEAN members to do the same.

The 73-year-old Filipino leader is scheduled to step down from Malacañang in 2022.

Liu enumerated some highlights of the smoothened ties between Manila and Beijing.

“We opened about 14 new flights [to the Philippines] and last year Chinese tourists to the Philippines reached more than one million. And China became the Philippines’s number one trade partner,” Liu said.

“Also China supports the Marawi rebuilding. About $23 million, I’m not sure,” the director added.

Liu hinted that there’s room for this improved ties to grow, thus making his proposed plan – although general – quite tantalizing.

“If we have a working plan, medium-term or long-term, then I think we can maintain the bilateral relations stable, growing steadily.”

During the meeting, Filipino journalists proposed ratcheting up people-to-people relations, as opposed to government-to-government relations since the latter is already on the upswing. Liu was receptive to this.

He also called it a “very good idea” to launch a 30-minute or hourlong TV program in the mainland that would tackle nothing but Filipino culture. This is in line with the improvement of people-to-people relations between Filipinos and Chinese.