[But Mr. Duterte has alarmed United States
officials by asserting that the Philippines would reduce its military
cooperation with Washington, and his openly anti-American sentiments this week,
as well as his tilt toward Beijing, may add to their concerns. How far Mr.
Duterte, whose military is underequipped and poorly trained, will venture in
actually splitting from the United States is still unclear.]
By Jane Perlez
 |
|
President Xi Jinping of
China, left, and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines
in Beijing on Thursday.
Credit Thomas Peter/Reuters
|
BEIJING — President Rodrigo Duterte of the
Philippines and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, agreed on Thursday to resume direct
talks on disputes in the South China Sea after years of escalating tension, a
sign of warming relations with Beijing.
The announcement came during Mr. Duterte’s
state visit to China, as he repeatedly sought to distance the Philippines from
the United States, a treaty ally. Mr. Duterte, speaking to business leaders
shortly after meeting with Mr. Xi, openly declared a “separation from the
United States.”
He refrained, however, from saying that he
would revoke a 70-year-old treaty alliance with Washington and made no
indication of doing what China would like most: scrapping an accord that gives
the United States access to five military bases in the Philippines.
The decision to reopen discussions on the
South China Sea after a hiatus of several years offers the promise of
de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea, an issue that has strained
Washington’s relationship with Beijing.
“Though we come to your country close to
winter, it is the springtime of our relationship,” Mr. Duterte told Mr. Xi in
their talks afterward, according to reporters who were allowed to observe part
of their meeting.
But Mr. Duterte has alarmed United States
officials by asserting that the Philippines would reduce its military
cooperation with Washington, and his openly anti-American sentiments this week,
as well as his tilt toward Beijing, may add to their concerns. How far Mr.
Duterte, whose military is underequipped and poorly trained, will venture in
actually splitting from the United States is still unclear.
The president, in his remarks to the business
forum on Thursday, suggested that the separation would extend to the “military,
not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost.”
He continued, “I’ve realigned myself in your
ideological flow, and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin.”
A day earlier, Mr. Duterte struck a similarly
resistant tone before a group of Philippine citizens living in China. “Time to
say goodbye, my friend,” he said of the United States.
“I will not go to America anymore,” he added.
“I will just be insulted there.”
Revoking the alliance with the United States
would alienate Philippine citizens — and the military — which has strongly
favored Washington.
Although Mr. Duterte, who took office in
June, is popular at home, the people there hold more positive attitudes toward
the United States, the former colonial power, than the president does.
A poll by the Pew Research Center in 2015,
about global attitudes toward the United States, showed that 92 percent of
Philippine residents held a favorable view of the United States, the country
with the highest showing in Asia.
It is unclear when talks on the South China
Sea would start or what their focus would be.
However, Mr. Duterte signaled Wednesday night
that one obstacle to such discussions — a July ruling on the disputes by an
international tribunal in The Hague, which was overwhelmingly in the Philippines’
favor — could be overcome. China has refused to abide by the court’s ruling,
and Mr. Duterte said Wednesday that the tribunal’s decision would “take a back
seat.”
Under Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno S.
Aquino III, the Philippines cut off bilateral discussions of their conflicting
South China Sea claims in 2012, after China seized the disputed Scarborough
Shoal and drove Philippine fishermen from it.
On Thursday, the two sides agreed to
establish a joint coast guard committee on maritime cooperation, a potentially
significant step because Chinese Coast Guard vessels have been keeping
Philippine fishing boats from Scarborough Shoal.
In a gesture to Philippine fishermen, China’s
vice foreign minister, Liu Zhenmin, said China would provide assistance with
aquaculture and the commercial processing of fish, an issue that Mr. Duterte
has emphasized. Mr. Liu said that the countries’ relationship was back to “full
recovery” and that they would hold talks on broader defense and security
issues, which had also been halted under Mr. Aquino.
“Both sides agreed that the South China Sea
issue is not the sum total of the bilateral relationship,” Mr. Liu said.
On the investment front, China agreed to
finance infrastructure in the Philippines, lifted the embargo on the import of
tropical fruits, including mangoes, and said it would start encouraging its
tourists to visit after removing a travel advisory on the Philippines.
But Mr. Duterte told reporters that he would
not raise joint exploration with China for oil and gas in the South China Sea,
a venture that Beijing would like.
He would have to consult with Parliament
before broaching the possibility, he said.
Mr. Duterte is expected to address Chinese
business leaders on Friday and may visit a drug rehabilitation center in
Beijing to demonstrate his support for China’s tough policy on drug offenders.
Unlike officials in the United States and other Western countries, China has
refrained from criticizing Mr. Duterte’s deadly campaign against drugs, in
which about 1,400 people have been killed by the police and hundreds more by
vigilantes.
The Chinese have gone out of their way to
offer Mr. Duterte wide access to top leadership. Later Thursday, Mr. Duterte
was set to meet with Prime Minister Li Keqiang and two other members of the
Chinese Communist Party’s all-powerful Standing Committee. By the time he
leaves China, Mr. Duterte will have met with four of the committee’s seven
members, including Mr. Xi — an unusual honor for a visiting leader.
Follow Jane Perlez on Twitter @JanePerlez.
