‘Subic Freeport to play major role in RP-China partnership’

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Chinese Ambassador Li Jin Jun expressed high hopes that Subic would play a key role in the growing bilateral trade ties between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China.

"According to the consensus reached by the two governments, it was decided that a China-Philippine economic partnership forum would be held in the Philippines in the first half of this year," Li told The STAR during his visit here.

"The bilateral relations, along with economic and trade cooperation, between China and the Philippines are developing rapidly," Li said.

The Chinese ambassador expressed a desire to put up a Chinese industrial park here.

The Subic Bay Freeport currently has two industrial parks: the Subic Bay Industrial Park, which has mostly Taiwanese locators; and the Subic Techno Park, which hosts Japanese companies.

He also said China can explore cooperation in the area of tourism. "Subic and Clark are very famous tourist attractions. They have very good tourism facilities. So I hope that tourism will be a key area of cooperation between our countries," he said.

Li said there are many new areas for trade and economic cooperation between China and the Philippines, including the Northrail project, the joint development in the South China Sea by China, the Philippines and Vietnam, and mining ventures.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Feliciano Salonga and Administrator Armand Arreza, who personally welcomed Li to Subic, were enthusiastic on the ambassador’s pronouncements.

"We welcome Ambassador Li’s citation of Subic as a key area in the Chinese-Philippine Economic Partnership Forum. We believe that Subic is, indeed, a prominent player to improve China-Philippine cooperation," Arreza said.

For his part, Salonga said the growth of China-Philippine ties would boost the economic growth of the Subic Bay Freeport.

"I believe that Subic would have a big role in strengthening the relationship between the two countries," he said.

The two countries established formal diplomatic relations in June 1975.

To mark the 25th year of their bilateral ties, the two countries signed a Joint Statement on the Framework of Bilateral Cooperation in the 21st Century, setting the future direction of their partnership.

Areas of bilateral cooperation include defense and the military, trade and investment, science and technology, agriculture, education and culture, and judicial-legal aspects.

Li said the economic forum slated this year will be participated in by some 300 to 500 Chinese enterprises and banks, as well as government officials who will review the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

"In recent years, the Chinese government has encouraged its enterprises to go globally and invest abroad. In order to encourage these enterprises to go global, the Chinese government has provided many flexible conditions," Li said.

The forum also hopes to come up with a comprehensive plan for continued economic and trade cooperation.

"We believe that economic development should have active participation from private enterprises so it would not only be dominated by our governments," Li said.

If the two countries could reach a consensus on key areas, their bilateral cooperation would reach its full potential, he said.

For its part, the Philippine government has identified some key areas of cooperation, including infrastructure development, telecommunications, and the Northrail and Southrail projects.

Other key areas of cooperation involve natural resources, including mining and other joint developments in the South China Sea, along with Vietnam, as well as agriculture and fisheries. Chinese hybrid rice and hybrid corn have been successfully introduced in the Philippines.