By Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales
MANILA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The Philippines' foreign minister
said on Friday he would recommend the government terminates
deals with Chinese firms blacklisted by the United States for
their roles in constructing and militarising artificial South
China Sea islands.
The United States on Wednesday named 24 Chinese companies
and targeted individuals it said were involved in such
activities, in its first sanctions move against Beijing over the
disputed waterway. "If they were in any way involved in the reclamation, then
it becomes consistent on our part to terminate any contract with
them," Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin told CNN Philippines,
without identifying a company or project.
Among those blacklisted was China Communications
Construction Co (CCCC) 601800.SS , a transport and
infrastructure conglomerate, which last year got the go-ahead to
build a $10 billion airport project with a local partner in
Cavite, near Manila.
CCCC's subsidiary, China Harbour Engineering Company, along
with a unit of Udenna Corp, a conglommorate run by Dennis Uy, a
local tycoon with close ties with Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte, has initial approval for a $1.2 billion reclamation
project in Manila Bay.
Cavite governor Juanito Victor Remulla said he would take
his cue from Duterte on how to proceed.
"If the president says, if the Department of National
Defense says that it's a security risk to enter an agreement
with them, then we will terminate the agreement immediately,"
Remulla told news channel ANC.
Udenna Land, Chinese Harbour's partner in the reclamation
project, and Pasay City, which is responsible for Manila Bay
reclamation, did not respond to requests for comment.
However, when asked in December if Udenna was concerned
about partnering with a company involved in Mischief Reef - a
manmade island on which China has installed missiles capable of
hitting the Philippines - a representative of Udenna said Uy "is
not concerned".
In the December response to emailed questions from Reuters,
Leo Venezuela, Udenna's Investor Relations Head, added the
company has "a very insignificant stake" in the project.
The Philippines won an international arbitration case in
2016 that confirmed Mischief Reef had been built in Manila's
200-mile exclusive economic zone.