APD | Philippine Secretary Locsin confirms productive meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi

By APD writer Melo M. Acuña

MANILA, March. 20 (APD) – Foreign Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. said he met with State Councilor Wang Yi in what he described as “a productive meeting” and reviewed the accomplishments and difference up for resolution.

In a statement released to the media past 3:00 P.M. in Manila, Secretary Locsin said they underscored the need to set the differences aside “as we pursue more enriching and advantageous common goals.”

“We are happy that our friendship has grown from strength to strength.  This augurs well for the eventual resolution of difference in a fashion that does full justice to the honor of both our nations who have learned, bitterly and then proudly, that a nation’s most precious possession is not wealth nor power but honor,” he further said.

He assured his audience in Beijing “that the Philippines will look out for your people in my country as I have seen China look out for our people in yours.”

He also underscored the greater advantages derived from beneficial collaboration.

Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. in a souvenir pose with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi after their respective statements before the international media in Beijing. (DFA Photo/Emilio Lopue)

“Today, State Councilor Wang and I discussed how to bring our countries closer to together in a unity of purpose that advances only what each one seeks best for itself yet also for the other’s advantage,” he said.

Secretary Locsin said while he speaks for his country “which wants to see much hope for, and nothing to fear from the rise of a new power.”  He added he wrote that preamble to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative “that no other country in history but the New China has aspired to rise higher, not by stepping on others, but by helping them rise alongside her.”  

The Filipino foreign secretary added without the new China there would be no prospect for the developing world to grow into emerging economies and “would still be, as through the second half of the last century, we were, at the mercy of Western markets which, on a whim, can turn us away-as they did through the post- and neo-colonial period.”

He admitted he was amazed but not surprised how much China achieved as it was the work of the Chinese people, known for tireless energy and inventiveness from the “direction and focus through the Communist Party.”

Secretary Locsin said they spoke of regional issues and international commitments with emphasis on mutual respect shown by shared refusal to take part in outside attempts to take advantage of each one’s internal concerns.

“These are best and rightly left to national solutions,” he explained as “there is multilateralism and there is foreign interference” with the line between them often blurred as “good intentions mask old imperialisms.”

In closing, Secretary Locsin said he and State Councilor Wang will continue to deepen Philippines-China relations and play their roles in securing a peaceful and prosperous future for both Filipinos and Chinese.

“Most of the pieces are ready; the best hearts and minds on both sides are poised to put them in place.  Let’s do it now,” he concluded.  

(Top image: Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. (left) addresses the media after the bilateral talks with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi today in Beijing. DFA Photo/Emilio Lopue)

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)