CHINESE OPEN SECOND CONSULATE IN PHILIPPINES

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANILA 001153 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MTS AND EAP/CM E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM CH RP SUBJECT: CHINESE OPEN SECOND CONSULATE IN PHILIPPINES REF: MANILA 1020 Classified By: Pol/C Scott Bellard for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) The People's Republic of China officially opened its consulate in San Nicholas/Laoag City (reftel) in the north Luzon province of Ilocos Norte on April 11. The PRC also has an existing consulate in Cebu City (Central Visayas),as well as consular property (inherited from Taiwan) in Davao City (Mindanao). According to Judylin Cruz of the Ilocos Norte Tourism, Trade and Investment Council, over 300 people attended the high profile ceremony, including Ilocos Norte Governor Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos (son and wife of the late dictator),PRC Ambassador Li Jinjun, Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Francisco Benedicto, and Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon. In his speech, Ambassador Li highlighted the new consulate's objectives of promoting PRC investment and tourism in north Luzon and strengthening the relationship between China and the Philippines. ¶2. (C) According to Renato Cruz De Castro, Professor of International Studies at De La Salle University and expert on Sino-Philippine ties, the opening of this consulate had encountered many delays due to the concerns of some Department of Foreign Affairs officials, who had privately expressed to him their suspicion that the consulate's real purpose would be "surveillance." De Castro added that the PRC had held up the issuance of visas to Philippine diplomats in order to "pressure" the Philippine Government to give a final blessing to the consulate's opening. Daniel Espiritu, Director of the DFA's China and North Asia Division and the PRC Embassy's DCM have separately claimed to poloffs that the delay since the formal agreement on the consulate in 2005 had been due primarily to the PRC's inability to identify appropriate staff. (The Philippines maintains consulates in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Xiamen; Espiritu noted that the Philippines very much needed to increase its staff throughout China, but that PRC limitations so far did not enable it to do so.) ¶3. (SBU) Comment: The PRC's newest diplomatic outpost will contrast unfavorably in many Philippine eyes with the U.S. diplomatic presence, with the Embassy in Manila and only a consular agent in Cebu since the closure of our own consulate there in the 1990s. Nonetheless, our active public diplomacy programs and vigorous nationwide travel schedule by Embassy officials from the Ambassador on down to advance U.S. policy goals and to highlight our developmental and relief assistance as well as robust bilateral counterterrorism cooperation, continue to ensure that we receive vastly greater -- and better -- media coverage and public recognition among the Philippine public than our Chinese counterparts. Visit Embassy Manila's Classified website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm KENNEY