Sumama na rin ang ilang malalaking grupo ng mga negosyante na umaapela sa China na lumayas na ang mga barko nito sa karagatang sakop ng Pilipinas.
Kabilang sa mga business groups na nanawagan ay ang Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Iloilo Business Cluib, Inc., Makati Business Club (MBC) at iba pa.
Hiling nila sa China na sana igalang ang soberenya ng Pilipinas at kalapit na mga bansa.
“We call on the Chinese authorities to respect the sovereignty of the Philippines and other neighboring countries for it is only through peaceful co-existence that we can achieve prosperity for all.”
Binigyang diin din ng business groups na sinusuportahan nila ang panawagan ni Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, DFA at iba pang pang government officials na paalisin na ng China ang kanilang mga sasakyang pandagat sa Julian Felipe Reef.
Inungkat din ng grupo na ang naturang bahagi ng karagatan ay malinaw na pag-aari ng Pilipinas batay na rin sa 2016 ruling ng UN Convention on the Law of the Seas.
“China and the Philippines share many things in common including being subjugated by colonizers and having their natural resources plundered. Now that China is strong economically and militarily, we call on China to refrain from becoming an imperial power. In 1974, Deng Xiaoping said “If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it,” bahagi pa ng joint statement ng business groups.
