Fidel Ramos: Duterte’s icebreaker in South China Sea row

A wily operator who likes to emphasise his military past, the former president of the Philippines is hoping to capitalise on a ‘whiff of hope’ in the country’s South China Sea dispute

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Fidel Ramos pledged to find ‘common points of interest’ between Beijing and Manila. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 9:30pm, 12 Aug 2016Updated: 1:14pm, 28 Sep 2016

When Fidel Ramos, the former Philippine president, arrived in Hong Kong on Monday pledging to find “common points of interest” between Beijing and Manila in their territorial dispute in the South China Sea, he opened the latest chapter in a seven-decade career marked by savvy and achievement.

Ramos, a special envoy for Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte in the maritime controversy, visited the city one month after a ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands that rejected China’s claims. China blasted the ruling and has vowed not to back down.

But on Tuesday, news agency Xinhua ran an editorial saying the former president’s arrival in Hong Kong had brought “a whiff of hope” for a fresh diplomatic start.

The former president, 88, said on Tuesday he would spend his five days in the city visiting old friends with ties to the central government.

He spoke of those “common points of interest” between the countries and held up photos of President Xi Jinping (習近平) that he said were taken when the Chinese leader visited the Philippines in his youth.

On Friday, Ramos revealed in a statement that his “informal discussions” with those friends stressed that building trust was “very important to the long-term beneficial relationship between the Philippines and China”. He added they all valued “the prospect of further cooperation” and noted China welcomed him to come to Beijing as Duterte’s envoy.