PHILIPPINES: Pangulong Marcos, Iniulat na ‘Fruitful’ ang Naging Pag-uusap nila ni Chinese President Xi Jinping
Iniulat noong Miyerkules ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ang isang produktibong bilateral na pagpupulong kay Chinese President Xi Jinping sa Beijing na nakatuon sa soft infrastructure, climate change, renewable energy, people-to-people ties at agricultural cooperation na kinabibilangan ng tinatawag na “durian protocol.”
“It has been a very wide-ranging discussion… the meeting ran very long, and that’s why I’m actually very optimistic because President Xi seemed to be genuinely interested in all of these issues and finding a way to move forward to again strengthen the relationship between China and the Philippines. I’m quite gratified that we had made a good start,” sabi ni Marcos sa isang panayam.
Ang mga Asian leader ay nag-usap “sa mahabang panahon” tungkol sa climate change, na inilarawan ni Marcos bilang “a subject that we cannot leave alone or it will come back to haunt us in the future.”
Sinabi ng Pangulo na mayroon ding alok ng tinatawag na “soft infrastructure” in terms of digitalization of government bureaucracy gayundin ang pagpapabuti ng connectivity sa buong bansa.
“We had a very fruitful exchange of ideas and beginnings of a plan for moving forward… And we covered so many subjects, much more than as usual for these very formal meetings. We talked about the trade imbalance between our country and China and what we can do to remedy this,” sabi niya.
Sinabi ni Marcos na ang pagpupulong ay nagbunga ng “durian protocol,” na tumuturo sa isang kasunduan para sa pag-export ng durian sa China.
Nagkasundo ang Manila at Beijing sa isang protocol ng phytosanitary requirements para sa pag-export ng mga sariwang durian mula Pilipinas sa China sa pagitan ng Department of Agriculture (DA) at General Administration of Customs ng China.
“Dahil binubuksan nila ang kanilang kalakalan sa pag-import ng durian at iba pang produktong pang-agrikultura mula sa Pilipinas upang mabawi natin ang kawalan ng balanse sa ating mga pag-import at pag-export mula sa China,” ani Marcos.
Tinalakay din ng dalawang pinuno kung ano ang maaari nilang gawin “upang sumulong, upang maiwasan ang anumang posibleng mga pagkakamali, hindi pagkakaunawaan na maaaring mag-trigger ng mas malaking problema kaysa sa kung ano ang mayroon na tayo.”
“And I was very clear in trying to talk about the plight of our fishermen. And the President (Xi) promised that we would find a compromise and find a solution that will be beneficial, so that our fishermen might be able to fish again in their natural fishing grounds,” itinuro ni Pangulong Marcos.
Nagsalita rin ang Pangulo tungkol sa kanyang pakikipagpulong kay Chinese Premier Li Kequiang at National Congress of the People’s Republic of China chairman Li Zhanshu.
“I met with the Premier, Premier Li, who I had met before in Cambodia. And we continued the discussions that we began there, which were essentially about the strengthening again of relationships between China and the Philippines,” sabi ni Marcos.
Nauna nang pumirma ang Pilipinas at China ng 14 na bilateral na kasunduan noong Miyerkules sa pagbisita ni Pangulong Marcos sa China, kabilang ang mga deal sa agriculture, infrastructure, development cooperation, maritime security, at tourism, at iba pa.
