Beijing would welcome Ramos visit

Beijing is looking forward to former Philippine president Fidel Ramos' visiting China as a special envoy and wants him to come as soon as possible, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Aug 10, the third day of the former leader's "icebreaking trip" to Hong Kong.

"China sticks to an open attitude toward all means of contact between China and the Philippines, and welcomes Ramos to China," Hua said.

The spokeswoman called on the two sides to make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties, restore dialogue and cooperation, and push forward the healthy and stable development of China-Philippines ties.

Ramos, 88, started a five-day trip to Hong Kong on Aug 8. He said he would meet "old friends" with links to officials in Beijing.

Ramos told reporters on Aug 9 that he planned to meet with Wu Shicun, who heads the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a think tank on Hainan Island. He gave no other details of his itinerary.

Ramos defined the trip as icebreaking, after bilateral ties were jeopardized by an arbitration case initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.

During Ramos' time as president, from 1992 to 1998, the two countries eased tensions caused by confrontations over the Meiji Reef.

Delia Albert, former secretary of foreign affairs of the Philippines, tells China Daily that she thinks the relationship could make progress with the meetings in Hong Kong.

"I'm very happy to see Ramos visiting Hong Kong, because he has many good friends there, and he is also the main promoter of the Boao Forum. More contact is very good," she says.

Richard Heydarian, assistant professor of political science at Manila-based De La Salle University, says the Philippines is looking for investments from China for its domestic development, but the current relationship is "extremely toxic".

This visit "hopefully brings some normalization to it", he says.

Chen Qinghong, a researcher in Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, says China and the Philippines can start to communicate on some easier topics first to create an atmosphere for dialogue on sensitive issues.

However, he says China's stance on sovereignty will not be changed.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/12/2016 page14)