Former president Duterte’s purported verbal pact with Xi intended to mitigate South China Sea disputes, yet China’s renewed hostility prompts scrutiny
Published: 12:00pm, 29 Mar 2024
Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterteallegedly made a “gentleman’s agreement” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to maintain the status quo in the South China Sea while he was in office, with analysts suggesting Beijing could be using the broken pact to justify its recent aggressive actions.
Harry Roque, who served as Duterte’s spokesman for several years, said in an interview this week with the news website Politiko that the reason for China’s recent water cannon attacks on Philippine vessels might be because it thought the agreement would remain in place under Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.
Roque later clarified on Wednesday that the verbal, non-binding agreement meant the Philippines would not construct or repair any installations within the disputed area but could deliver “food and water supplies” to Filipino troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II navy ship that was grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal to reinforce Manila’s territorial claims over the surrounding area.
“This is not a secret deal. This was made public by former Foreign Affairs [Secretary] Alan Peter Cayetano, who said before that if there are no repairs, no improvements on the ship, no problem in Ayungin [the Philippines’ term for the Second Thomas Shoal] … only water and food will be supplied,” Roque said.
I bypassed the paywall, and got this: