China wants corruption-free implementation of projects in PH

The People’s Republic of China yesterday vowed to implement the huge economic package it committed to President Duterte under a “corruption-free” environment. “I make a promise to President Duterte that cooperation particularly projects to be implemented by both sides will be and should be corruption-free,” said Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua in a speech at the Philippines-China Investment Forum in Makati.

With the upcoming visit of the new China Minister of Commerce in March, the ambassador said, they will guarantee of a rules-based and transparent project implementation that will “stand the test of time and stand the test of laws.”

He said both countries have to abide by the rules and make no room for mistakes to a jampacked Isabela Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La. The ambassador cited the event as the biggest gathering of Chinese businessmen in the country so far.

Good relations between the two countries had been restored last year with the visit of President Duterte to Beijing. The huge economic benefits promised by the Chinese government to the Philippines are seen as part of the efforts by the Chinese government to reward the Philippines for pursuing a less contentious approach to its territorial dispute.

The promise of huge Chinese investments could also offset lower Chinese investments in the country in the past.

In fact, the ambassador also admitted that investments between two countries still remained moderate with more Filipino businessmen investing in China than Chinese capital going to the Philippines.

Jianhua even assured Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who was also present during the forum, that “China will balance and will invest more in the Philippines.”

Despite the difficulties in both countries’ relationships in the past several years, Jianhua said that bilateral and economic relations remained resilient with China still the Philippines’ second largest trading partner.

The ambassador has pushed for more cooperation between the two countries on technology innovation, BPOs, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, and other sectors to further improve bilateral economic relations.

Apart from the approved projects, the Chinese investors are also planning of industrial parks in the Philippines where they have none while it has eight already in other ASEAN countries. This will be done via an industrial park cooperation with Philippine authorities to boost local manufacturing with the help of Chinese manufacturing companies. The ambassador also said that Chinese tourists already increased to 670,000 in just 7 months and the number could grow to a million this year.

Aside from Ambassador Jianhua, the Chinese delegation was supported by representatives from China International Contractors Association, Bank of China, China Railway Group Limited and China Communications Construction Company Limited.