THE relations between China and the Philippines should focus on forging cooperation and mutual understanding instead of the current territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Chinese Ambassador to Manila Ma Keqing said in a roundtable with The Manila Times on Wednesday.

Ma told the editors of The Times that these disputes comprise only 10 percent of the overall relations between the Philippines and China.

“We must focus on the positive things on cooperation. Why should we concentrate on the 10 percent and neglect the 90 percent of our bilateral relations?” she asked.

The envoy added that many times, she was “disheartened” by the negative news because she had hoped that both countries could “move forward” from the disputes.

“My mission here is to promote mutual understanding and mutual respect. If there’s trust, there will be room for implementation [of bilateral agreements],” Ma said.

She noted that the Philippines and China share some 1,000 years of history and exchanges, and that there was never a conflict or a dispute that marred those years of cooperation. She said the two countries must keep this momentum of good feelings and good exchanges between them.

The envoy urged the Philippines to do more in attracting some of the 400 million Chinese tourists who travel domestically every year.

“There are a lot of areas we can work on together . . . in agriculture and in tourism. Chinese people are getting richer. They have more money. They can afford to travel and visit other places,” Ma said.

According to data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), Chinese nationals made up the fourth biggest tourist arrivals in the Philippines, next to South Koreas, United States Americans and Japanese.

The envoy said that the Philippines should be the Chinese’s top destination because of its proximity. A direct flight from Beijing to Manila takes four-and-a-half hours and Shanghai is only two-and-a-half hours away from the Philippine capital.

She said the Philippines could draw more from the 75 million Chinese tourists who travel to Southeast Asian nations once the government improves its infrastructure. Most Chinese tourists go to Thailand and Malaysia because they are relatively cheaper than traveling to the Philippines, she added.

Ma added that Chinese tourists are now pickier about their accommodation, so the Philippines should improve its hotels and make it easier to travel to other places than Metro Manila. She also said Chinese tourists find the Philippines more expensive than other destinations in the region.

Although the costs of traveling to and touring the Philippines are relatively cheaper than traveling to Western nations, they are higher than the costs of touring Thailand and Malaysia, the envoy said.

She also lamented the number of demonstrations against China in Manila, saying this had caused travel agencies in Beijing to cancel group tours to the Philippines.

Ma noted that the August 2010 hostage-taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta is still a sore topic for most Chinese tourists.

She was referring to the 2010 incident wherein disgruntled police officer Rolando Mendoza killed some eight Chinese nationals in an 11-hour standoff and a botched rescue attempt.

The envoy related that the Chinese national government is often criticized by some 600 netizens in China for aiding the Philippines in various cooperative programs and even humanitarian assistance.

In the aftermath of Typhoon Sendong in 2011, China gave about $1 million to the Philippines as humanitarian aid.

“They [netizens] are saying, ‘Why are we helping them [Philippines] if they are hostile to us?’” she said.

But Ma said that if the Philippines and China will continue fighting with each other, “opportunities will be lost.”

The Philippines have filed several diplomatic protests against China’s aggressiveness in the contested waters. China has sent of government vessels, cordoned off the contested Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and the latest is the printing of its nine-dash line claim on the new Chinese ePassports.

Ma said that she hopes the new Philippine policy on stamping its visas on the separate visa application form, and not on the old and new passports, will not affect the influx of Chinese tourists to the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said that the 200,000 Chinese tourists visiting the Philippines yearly would unlikely to be affected by the new policy.