MANILA, Philippines —The provincial government of Cavite will terminate its agreement with the Chinese state-owned firm that bagged the initial phase of the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) project if the national government decides that the partnership is a risk to national security.
Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla said this Friday, referring to the agreement between the provincial government and China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC) on the airport project.
“The joint venture between CCCC and MacroAsia is about to be completed. It’s not perfected yet. Their boards have to approve it, and it should be done maybe in a month,” Remulla told ABS-CBN News Channel.
“But it’s a national security issue. If the President says, if the Department of National Defense says that it’s a security risk entering into an agreement with them, then we will cease or terminate the agreements immediately,” he added.
Remulla pointed out that it is up to the national government and not to the local government to conduct a risk assessment on the partnership with the Chinese firm.
“We want to build an airport, we found a partner, it seems that they are involved in the South China Sea issue, but I will leave it up to the Department of National Defense. I will leave it to the Office of the President to guide us on how we should pursue this,” he added.
CCCC was among the firms that helped build China’s artificial islands in the contested waters of the South China Sea. The consortium of Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. and the CCCC was the sole bidder for the SPIA project.
The United States earlier announced sanctions and restrictions on 24 state-owned firms of China as well as associated officials for taking part in building artificial islands in the disputed waters. These firms include subsidiaries of construction giant CCCC, telecommunications firms, and a unit of the China Shipbuilding Group.