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Thursday, March 28, 2024

That useless ongoing Asean

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By this time, almost everyone in Metropolitan Manila knows that the Philippines is hosting the latest forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) at the expanse of expensive real estate beside Manila Bay.

As a consequence of that Asean forum, work in schools and government offices in the vicinity of the forum, namely, Pasay City, Manila, and Makati was called off yesterday.  In addition, all traffic regulations in the area have been adjusted —local motorists must yield at all times to vehicles identified with that forum.

Courts of justice were also ordered closed yesterday.  To litigants, that means postponements anew, and more delay in the administration of justice. 

What the Asean forum is officially all about can be gleaned from the news broadcasts of the state-run television station.  What the forum is really all about, however, is something else.  If the recent past is an indication of contemporary times, not much is to be expected from this forum.  Other than the usual, time-consuming speeches on regional unity, cooperation, and trade, the Asean forum hosted by the Philippines is another useless waste of public funds, and a waste of valuable time.

Truth to tell, Asean has done nothing of substantial consequence that has been beneficial to the common Filipino in recent years.

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The nuclear menace posed by North Korea during the past several days is enough to worry Europe and North America.  So far, even Russia is unsettled about the reckless, trigger-happy juvenile running the communist government in Pyongyang.  This is obvious from Moscow’s refusal to veto any pre-emptive measure the United Nations (UN) Security Council may pursue against North Korea.

Even Communist China is nervous, as seen by Beijing’s public advisory that the United States and North Korea should refrain from making provocative remarks against each other.  Like Russia, Communist China refused to veto the recent UN Security Council measure designed to address the problem posed by North Korea.

The refusal of Russia and Communist China to side with their traditional spoiled-brat ward North Korea in the UN Security Council vote underscores just how much trouble Pyongyang can potentially create for the world. 

 It will be recalled that Russia is responsible for establishing North Korea after World War II.  North Korea was supposed to be a communist outpost in East Asia. 

During the Korean War (1950-1953), Communist China kept North Korea alive after the latter had already been vanquished by UN multi-national forces commanded by General Douglas MacArthur.  The historical record shows that after UN forces occupied Pyongyang and pushed the North Koreans off the Korean peninsula, Communist China (then led by tyrant Mao Zedong) joined the war on the side of the North Koreans.  As a result, the combined Red Chinese and North Korean armies were able to fight the UN forces, and to regain control of the northern part of the peninsula, which is the territory now held by North Korea. 

An armistice in 1953 ended the shooting war, but in the absence of a treaty between the two Koreas, and there is none, the North and the South are still technically at war.      

 What has Asean done about the North Korean nuclear menace?  Nothing, even if a North Korean nuclear attack against South Korea and Japan can trigger a dangerous fallout that will eventually reach most of the nations comprising Asean, thanks to the strong winds from Siberia. The Association, its apologists say, is not a military alliance.

When Communist China went on an illegal landgrabbing spree in the West Philippine Sea, Asean kept mum about the whole thing.  When a number of no-nonsense diplomats tried to prepare an anti-Beijing statement for Asean, other diplomats of the Association, particularly those from the pro-Red Chinese nation of Cambodia, tried to abort it.  The end result—a useless, equivocal statement from Asean regarding Communist China’s bullying in the West Philippine Sea. 

Having had enough of that blatant abuse of strength by Communist China, Manila took legal action against Beijing before the UN arbitration tribunal at The Hague, in The Netherlands.  During the pendency of the arbitration proceedings, Asean was conveniently silent about the case. 

The Philippine victory in the UN arbitration tribunal was a devastating diplomatic blow to Communist China.  Even if Beijing refuses to honor the tribunal’s ruling, Manila won the moral high ground against Beijing.  By reason of that arbitration ruling as well, Communist China’s hollow protestations of peace in the maritime regions around it were exposed. 

 Indeed, Beijing has remained in the West Philippine Sea, but it is the villain of the region, thanks to the Philippine victory in the UN arbitration tribunal.

So far, Asean has not bothered to thank Manila for standing up to Beijing, and for providing a moral opposition to the Red Chinese landgrabbers.  As usual, the Association’s apologists insist that Asean is not a military alliance.   

 Just what then, in reality, is Asean?  If Asean is not a military but an economic alliance, then it’s doing a lousy job. 

 For starters, the prosperity the anticipated Asean integration has been promising in its press releases has become a teasing illusion to unemployed Filipinos today, precisely because they remain unemployed, and poverty stalks many places in the Philippines.

When Communist China threatened to stop buying bananas from the Philppines in the wake of Manila’s case against Beijing in the UN arbitration tribunal, Asean never bothered to intervene, even when Beijing’s threat was obviously an economic reprisal against the Philippines—an Asean member-state.  Where is the purported economic alliance Asean is talking about?

Last year, Malaysia had a dark role in the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law which almost dismembered the Republic with the threatened creation of an Islamic sub-state in Mindanao.  Ironically, Malaysia is supposed to be an ally of the Philippines in Asean.

Enough of the hogwash!  The sooner the ongoing Asean forum ends, the better it will be for the Filipinos. 

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