The Philippines needs to do a lot of “mending fences” with China once the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issues anytime now its ruling on the case filed by Manila with respect to the dispute with Beijing over maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea. This was suggested by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura del Rosario during a Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines forum held recently in Makati City as she noted the bitterness that China continues to feel after the Philippines instituted arbitral proceedings in 2013. “China questions why we filed that arbitration,” said Del Rosario. “Somehow they cannot accept it.” “We need to do a lot of reaching out, to save our friendship with China and not to embarrass them,” she added. Ambassador Laura del Rosario / Photo courtesy of APEC2015 via Twitter As this developed, the second United States air [...]
