An aerial photo taken on Sept 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in South China Sea. (Photo/Xinhua)
As the farce of arbitration on the South China Sea is to end soon, it is time for the new Philippine government of Rodrigo Duterte to stop the wrong foreign policy of its predecessor, so as to bring China-Philippines ties back to the track of sound development.Â
Since Duterte assumed presidency on Thursday, sparks of hope have arisen for resumption of sound development of relations between China and the Philippines after bilateral ties seriously deteriorated during the rule of former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
In 2013, the government of Aquino III filed a case of arbitration with the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration over territorial disputes between China and the Philippines on the South China Sea, stoking tensions in the South China Sea region.
On June 29 -- just a day before the assumption of presidency by Duterte, the Permanent Court of Arbitration announced that an arbitral award in the case initiated by the Philippines against China will be issued on July 12, meaning that the farce of arbitration started by the government of Aquino III will come to an end in days.
Since winning the election, Duterte has made a series of overtures on China-Philippines relations, signaling that improvement of relations with China would be a foreign policy priority of his government, in sharp contrast to the wrong foreign policy pursued by the former government.
As whoever started the trouble should be responsible for settling it, any substantial improvement of relations between China and the Philippines under the current situation actually depends on efforts of the Philippine side. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the new Philippine government will be able to play the role of settling the trouble left over by the former government, how long it will take before the new Philippine government can shake off the burden of wrong diplomacy created by its predecessor, how much efforts it will make in this endeavor, and how it will face the serious harm caused by the farce of arbitration to China-Philippines relations.
Today, there do exist chances for the new Philippine government to substantially improve relations with China, and also for it to eliminate negative impacts of the farce of arbitration on China-Philippine relations and even on the regional situation.
In a message to congratulate Duterte on his victory in the election more than one month ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and the Philippines see a long history of friendly exchanges and profound traditional friendship between the two peoples.
"A friendly, stable and sound China-Philippines relationship is in the fundamental interest of the two countries and the two peoples," Xi said, adding that he hoped the two sides would work together to get bilateral relations back onto the track of sound development.
In response, Duterte said he was "honored" to receive the congratulatory message from the Chinese president, calling him a great leader.
"I was honored receiving a congratulatory message from a great president," Duterte reportedly made the remarks when speaking with reporters in Davao City after unveiling the members of his cabinet to the media.
The indirect "dialogue" reflected by the two foregoing passages has been interpreted as a positive signal for improvement of relations between China and the Philippines. It is noteworthy that both sides mentioned therein the history of China-Philippines relations, and that both emphasized the existence of a long history of friendly exchange between China and the Philippines and the maintenance of profound traditional friendship between the Chinese and Philippine peoples.
Since ancient times, China and the Philippines have maintained friendly exchange and profound traditional friendship between the two peoples, which is just one of the reasons why the two countries can get bilateral ties back onto the track of sound development despite negative impacts of the wrong foreign policy pursued by the government of Aquino III.
In history, the South China Sea used to be an important link via which the two countries conducted friendly and equal exchanges.
Historical literature "The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898" gave an account of a story about friendly contacts between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
　　
