"MANILA, Philippines - Filipino businessmen will take the initiative to help finally put an end to the decades-long Spratlys dispute among claimants, including the Philippines and China, by gathering all the business chambers of the different countries that have interests on the islands to a meeting where they will draw up economic, rather than political, solutions to the conflict.
This came as Beijing said on Thursday that it is not violating an existing accord with the presence of its marine research ships in the disputed islands of Spratlys in South China Sea that angered claimant countries to the territory, including the Philippines."
This came as Beijing said on Thursday that it is not violating an existing accord with the presence of its marine research ships in the disputed islands of Spratlys in South China Sea that angered claimant countries to the territory, including the Philippines."
Francis Chua, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), said approaching the issue from an economic perspective with all the six claimants benefiting evenly is the key to the Spratlys resolution.
“The PCCI will call all the business organizations of these countries to a meeting. We will start with the private institutions. We will come up with the economic solution and then pressure our governments to toe the line,” Chua, also a former president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and special trade envoy to China, told the BusinessMirror.
The Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia are the six claimants over the oil-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
