Arroyo to visit China in September

President Arroyo has accepted an invitation to make an official visit to China next month to attend a meeting of Asian leaders.

The President’s attendance at the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, to be held from Sept. 3 to 5 in Beijing, would be her first trip abroad since her new term began last June 30.

The President had visited China twice during her first three years in office. The first was during her attendance at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Council Leaders’ Summit in 2002 and the second was during her state visit.

Mrs. Arroyo announced the forthcoming visit in impromptu remarks during her speech yesterday before members of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca) at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Manila.

Mrs. Arroyo also disclosed plans to hold a one-on-one meeting with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on the progress of negotiations to transform the former US naval fuel depot at Subic Bay in Zambales into a "regional" storage facility.

She directed Energy Secretary Vicente Perez, who was present in yesterday’s gathering, to "arrange a meeting" between her and the Thai prime minister to "find out how far we’ve gone on this arrangement."

The President said the regional facility was among the measures the government is eyeing to promote "energy independence," one of the five administrative and legislative "packages" she announced in her State of the Nation Address last July 26.

She said she hopes to form "strategic alliances with other countries, particularly our long-term energy partners like Saudi Arabia, our ASEAN neighbors, China and our new partner, Russia."

Russia became a new source for the country’s imported crude oil requirements in an agreement brokered by Speaker Jose de Venecia with leaders of the Russian parliament.

The announcement of the Beijing visit ironically comes on the heels of a statement from the US State Department that the Philippines was no longer considered a member of the so-called "coalition of the willing" that launched a military strike on Iraq in 2003.

Thursday’s statement by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has been played down by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The invitation to visit China was first reported by The STAR last month.

The Beijing meet was reportedly endorsed to Mrs. Arroyo by De Venecia, who suggested she could use the trip to take up with her Chinese counterpart the recent increase in China’s questionable activities in the Spratly Islands.

The Spratlys have been the subject of conflicting claims by several nations, including the Philippines and China.

De Venecia brought up his proposal after reports that Petro China was prospecting in the mineral-rich areas around the islands.

De Venecia proposed the setting up of a "fishing corridor" for the joint exploitation of the rich fishing grounds of the Spratlys.