“Open our hearts to each other.”
“Open our hearts to each other.”
This was the theme of the speech of His Excellency Huang Xilian, China’s ambassador to the Philippines, during the awarding ceremony of the first Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding.
As the occasion honors those who have been instrumental in promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the Philippines and China, it is understandable for the Chinese ambassador to focus on the relationship and its perspective between the two countries.
Ambassador Huang even traced the history of friendship and cooperation between China and Philippines, dating back to centuries ago when in the early 1500s, the great Chinese navigator Zheng He led a huge delegation and made multiple visits to the Manila Bay, Visayas and Sulu Archipelago on his seven overseas voyages seeking trade and friendship, which was reciprocated by the East King of Sulu Paduka Pahala who made a return and goodwill visit to China.
“These are a few of the many extraordinary representatives of our two peoples sharing the common aspirations of living in peace and harmony. Looking back at history, we will find that our two peoples have such natural aspirations to know each other and develop friendship. Today, we should inherit and carry forward the spirit of our ancestors to continue this journey of mutual understanding and friendship,” Huang said in his speech during the virtual program.
As a common practice in Chinese speeches, Huang quoted a Chinese saying, “Only heart-to-heart exchanges can last long,” when he called on both sides to “open hearts to each other.”
“To that end, we need to raise awareness, reduce misinterpretation, manage differences, and promote bridges of understanding and cooperation. China and the Philippines have great potential for cooperation in the field of people-to-people and socio-cultural exchanges, and there is still much for the two peoples to learn about each other,” said the Chinese ambassador.
“Like in any relationship, certain misunderstandings and differences are bound to be, but the longer lasting memories are the joys of overcoming the trials together and enjoying the fruits of cooperation together,” he added.
One of the awardees, a friend, Herman Laurel, acknowledged Huang’s call as he noted that “the Philippines being geo-strategically located as the Pacific entrance from the West to enter the East, has been the gateway for the 20th Century Western powers bringing conflict to Asia.”
“Today as some Western powers seek to contain the peacefully rising East the Philippines stands as the fulcrum,” said Laurel.
Another awardee, another dear friend, Ado Paglinawan, said the conditions for promoting friendship and understanding between China and the Philippines are more favorable now as “it was difficult during the Aquino administration which was hostile to China to balance its views in the South China Sea debate.”
And neither was it easy, according to Paglinawan, to be first to pass the impression in the midst of the present pandemic that COVID-19 did not originate at Wuhan but in the United States.
“However, as the Americans would say it, these are times that try men’s souls, to which I send back in repartee, only the truth shall set us free,” he averred.
But if we could foster understanding and friendship not only with China but with the rest of the world as well, it would be strongly preferable if not the only thing preferable.
For no less than China’s President Xi Jinping took Ambassador Huang’s call to another level – on a global scale.
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy bared that last Friday, Xi Jinping took a phone call from US President Joseph Biden, with the two leaders sharing “candid, in-depth and extensive strategic communication and exchanges on China-US relations and relevant issues of mutual interest.”
After having expressed sympathy to Biden and the American people over the human and economic toll in multiple places in the United States caused by Hurricane Ida which Biden was said to have appreciated, Xi Jinping then pointed out that for some time, due to the US policy on China, the China-US relationship has run into serious difficulty.
Highlighting an ancient Chinese poem, “Mountains and rivers may block the way, yet another village will appear amidst willow trees and blooming flowers,” Xi Jinping stressed that “when China and the United States cooperate, the two countries and the world will benefit; when China and the United States are in confrontation, the two countries and the world will suffer.”
“Getting the relationship right is not an option, but something we must do and must do well,” said Xi Jinping, adding that “the two countries should look ahead and press forward, demonstrate strategic courage and political resolve, and bring China-US relations back to the right track of stable development as soon as possible for the good of the people in both countries and around the world.”
In crucial times like this, nothing could be more welcome news than something that promotes understanding, friendship, cooperation and everything in between.