(Eagle News)– Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay said on Tuesday that the Philippines wants to assemble a provisional agreement with China on fishing rights before President Rodrigo Duterte’s trip to Beijing by the end of this year.
Yasay told lawmakers on Tuesday that China should agree with the provisional agreement on fishing rights until the two disputing countries are able to come up with a solution.
“We are even thinking about the possibility in the future for the President to make the visit to China. But we would hope that before this visit can be made, this provisional arrangements can be done with the end in view of beginning formal talks for the resolution of this dispute,” Yasay said.
Yasay said that the government is already taking steps to protect Filipino fishermen, who are still barred from fishing in the disputed waters.
He, however, cleared that the country will not take up harsh measures against China.
“We will not be engaging China in any shooting war in this particular instance. We will exercise maximum tolerance, restraint and sobriety for this purpose. Our task at this point is to make sure that the diplomatic processes that we will be embarking and continue to embark will result in the kind of objectives we would like to achieve.”
