"Countries that cause the Philippines harm and damage—encroaching upon its territory, harming its fishermen, etc.—are its non-friends."
"Countries that cause the Philippines harm and damage—encroaching upon its territory, harming its fishermen, etc.—are its non-friends."With the passage of time a person comes to know, through experience and interaction, who his real friends are—people who are always supportive, who help him in material and other ways, who can be depended upon during difficult times and, above all, who are not disposed to do him harm. He also comes to know who his non-friends are.
The same is true of countries. As it journeys through time, a country gets to find out which countries are its true friends—the countries that are supportive in all regional and international issues, practice transparency in bilateral dealings, are generous, whether under the terms of formal aid programs or in emergency situations, such as natural disasters, and, most of all, would never intentionally cause harm or damage. Likewise, a country comes to know, over time, which countries are its non-friends.
The events that have transpired in the West Philippine Sea and in this country’s EEZ (exclusive economic zone) since 2016 have led the Filipino people—not their government—to undertake a review of the Philippines’ relations with the Western Pacific countries and determine which countries are the Philippines’ true friends and which countries deserve to be classified as non-friends.
This column will be about the Philippines’ true and steadfast friends only. The record of Philippine external relations since 1946, when this country recovered its independence, shows that this country’s truest and most steadfast friends during the last seven decades have been the US, Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Indonesia. It bears noting that all these countries are democracies (though Indonesia is a fairly new entrant into the ranks of democracies).
The US has always been a true and steadfast friend of the Philippines. Since 1946 it has been this country’s Big Brother—a relationship formalized in the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951. The relationship between Manila and Washington has not been without glitches, but through the years Big Brother has always been there. An uninterrupted flow of assistance has come in through USAID (US Agency for International Development), and the US has remained the largest investor in the Philippines, and trade with the US has always been one of the largest components of Philippine external trade. In the face of the Duterte administration’s timidity toward China, it is only the US’ ‘freedom of navigation’ patrols that have kept China from totally negating the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that struck down China’s baseless nine-dash claim.
One of the greatest geopolitical transformations of the post-World War II era has been Japan’s emergence as a democratic economic powerhouse after its disastrous military adventure in East Asia between 1933 and 1945. Now the world’s third largest economy, Japan took advantage of the armed-forces-for-defense-only provision of its postwar Constitution to building up its economy and being one of the largest sources of development assistance for the Philippines and other developing countries. The ties between Manila and Tokyo—political, economic and cultural—cannot be closer than they are today. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) has been a very busy source of development assistance to this country.
So has AusAID (Australian Agency for International Development). AusAID is the economic face of Australian goodwill toward the Philippines. AusAID has been vying with USAID and JICA for the title of No.1 aid-giver to the Philippines. Over the last few decades Australia has become one of the major destinations for emigrants from this country. In virtually all major international issues Australia and the Philippines have been in lockstep. This is not surprising, considering that both countries are predominantly Christian, democratic and English-speaking.
What is true of Philippine-Australian relations is of equal application to relations between this country and New Zealand. Indeed, where New Zealand is on major international issues—including climate change—the Philippines and Australia always are.
The strong links between the Philippines and South Korea were forged in the battlefields of the Korean War (1950-1953). South Korea does not forget that were it not for the troops sent by the Philippines and other responding UN members, there probably would not have been a Republic of South Korea. For almost seven decades South Korea and the Philippines have been the closest of allies.
Because its population is mainly of Malayan stock also, Indonesia has not only been a next-door neighbor; it has always been a blood-brother of this country.
The countries discussed above are this country’s truest and most steadfast friends. Countries that cause the Philippines harm and damage—encroaching upon its territory, harming its fishermen, etc.—are its non-friends.