Northern Watch newspaper correspondent Mortz C. Ortigoza sat with former five- time House Speaker Jose de Venecia, a renowned geo-politics connoisseur, to discuss the disturbing Mainland China's reclamation at many of the eight reefs and islets in the Spratly Archipelago, the United States military pivot from Europe to Asia, the probability of the Philippines hosting again the U.S military bases to deter the Chinese. Excerpts:
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| The interviewer schmoozes with Former 5-Time Philippines House Speaker Joe de Vene- cia during his recent visit in town. |
NORTHERN WATCH (NW): Mischief Reef has been encroached by Mainland China and it has done reclamation there by building an aircraft landing strip liked structure and others. What’s your take on this?
JOSE DE VENECIA (JDV): You know my (North Sea) formula which (Former U.S State Secretary Henry) Kissinger endorsed recently. We should shelve or post phone....
(You can read his North Sea Formula* by accessing at https://northwatch.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/q-a-jdvs-solutions-on-the-spratlys-problem/
NW: For the next generation....
JDV: For the next generation and have a joined exploration and joint development of the South China Sea.
NW: But the problem is China is the one that is aggressively intruding on those eight islets and reefs at the Spratly's Archipelago?
JDV: No! But somebody had proposed that! I proposed that! (China’s Former Paramount Leader) Deng Xiaoping proposed that! I proposed that, Kissinger endorsed it (recently).
NW: How can we stop the sabre rattling and incursions of the Chinese?
JDV: That’s why this formula will stop all the encroachments.
NW: (Davao City Mayor and presidential hopeful) Rodrigo Duterte said he is going to invite the U.S Bases here as quoted from his Q&A at the Graphic Magazine. He is going to put bases in Palawan to deter the Chinese.
JDV: Well, you know the Filipino people have already made the decision not to re-establish U.S Military Bases in the Philippines. The U.S has also had made that decision in Europe in the Middle East in South America, and South Africa. There are no bases....
NW: But the U.S pivot from Europe to Asia says that 60% of its military would be based in East Asia in 2020.
JDV: But there is no such as U.S bases.
NW: Because they have aircraft carriers already?
JDV: Yes, yes, yes!
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MCO: Is there a precedent model of your consortium’s formula?
JDV: Just like that in the North Sea after World War II, England is here (as he lifted the empty coffee cup and the sandwich of the interviewee to put on the other parts of the table to emphasize his point). This is England; the oil field is here in Ecofisk in the North Sea. They took a median line partition so the oil flows to Stavanger in Norway. The oil is in Teesside in England. And the natural gas goes to Crimea, German. I landed here in the Ecofisk which is above 20 stories high. The platforms from the sea, very stormy seas but (they were composed of) hundreds of oil wells! And siguro mga (Just like) several stories high buildings and platforms from the sea.
MCO: So nobody own these areas? The consortium owns them?
JDV: They have agreed. This part belongs to Norway! (Lifting again the sandwich and coffee cup of the interviewer by putting them to another part of the table to emphasize his point)This part belongs to England! This part belongs to Germany! In the meantime we jointly developed.
MCO: Is the North Sea’s model the only model the claimants in the Spratly’s can replicate?
JDV: Puwedi nating gawin ito( We can copy it). This is one model. The other model is that we will drill together and the profit we split. You see? So we shelve the issue of sovereignty. This is the formula that will solve the problems of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Therefore that will solve the problem between China and Vietnam in the Paracel. This (in) the Spratly claim, Vietnam went to war over there a dozen years ago. This is the same formula that should be used because (by) Japan in Diaoyu Strait, what the Chinese call the Senkaku Strait. This is the third formula that could be used on the Sea of Japan and the East Sea, between Japan and South Korea.
MCO: Taiwan has a claim there, too. Is it because of her being Mainland China once upon a time?
JDV: It is her being a China then. The Taiwanese claim will be jointly discuss with the two Chinas – China and Taiwan.
MCO: Some Spratlys’s watchers told me the Philippines should have the least claim than China on the disputed islets because the places there have been owned by China since the 17th Century?
JDV: Well, more than a thousand years ago, you know the Philippines do not exist on that area ruled by certain datus (tribal chiefs). We were not a nation. China was already an ancient civilization, the bigger kingdom. And so they have maps of the area, for example the Spratlys were discovered by my friend Tomas Cloma. He called it Freedom Land in 1957.
JDV: Just like that in the North Sea after World War II, England is here (as he lifted the empty coffee cup and the sandwich of the interviewee to put on the other parts of the table to emphasize his point). This is England; the oil field is here in Ecofisk in the North Sea. They took a median line partition so the oil flows to Stavanger in Norway. The oil is in Teesside in England. And the natural gas goes to Crimea, German. I landed here in the Ecofisk which is above 20 stories high. The platforms from the sea, very stormy seas but (they were composed of) hundreds of oil wells! And siguro mga (Just like) several stories high buildings and platforms from the sea.
MCO: So nobody own these areas? The consortium owns them?
JDV: They have agreed. This part belongs to Norway! (Lifting again the sandwich and coffee cup of the interviewer by putting them to another part of the table to emphasize his point)This part belongs to England! This part belongs to Germany! In the meantime we jointly developed.
MCO: Is the North Sea’s model the only model the claimants in the Spratly’s can replicate?
JDV: Puwedi nating gawin ito( We can copy it). This is one model. The other model is that we will drill together and the profit we split. You see? So we shelve the issue of sovereignty. This is the formula that will solve the problems of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Therefore that will solve the problem between China and Vietnam in the Paracel. This (in) the Spratly claim, Vietnam went to war over there a dozen years ago. This is the same formula that should be used because (by) Japan in Diaoyu Strait, what the Chinese call the Senkaku Strait. This is the third formula that could be used on the Sea of Japan and the East Sea, between Japan and South Korea.
MCO: Taiwan has a claim there, too. Is it because of her being Mainland China once upon a time?
JDV: It is her being a China then. The Taiwanese claim will be jointly discuss with the two Chinas – China and Taiwan.
MCO: Some Spratlys’s watchers told me the Philippines should have the least claim than China on the disputed islets because the places there have been owned by China since the 17th Century?
JDV: Well, more than a thousand years ago, you know the Philippines do not exist on that area ruled by certain datus (tribal chiefs). We were not a nation. China was already an ancient civilization, the bigger kingdom. And so they have maps of the area, for example the Spratlys were discovered by my friend Tomas Cloma. He called it Freedom Land in 1957.
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