It has been a year since the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in our favor that parts of the South China Sea are within our territorial waters. But the Duterte administration’s soft approach to the issue was not to pressure China into accepting the Hague Tribunal ruling.
“I was aghast that the President used the words ‘setting aside’ the favorable Hague ruling, “said Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, when he spoke at a forum marking the first anniversary of the landmark decision.
The raison d’ etre of this so- called soft approach was to save a big power like China from losing face in the international community. But what did we get from Beijing in return?
Aside from the easing of restrictions on our banana exports, Filipino fishermen were able to return to traditional fishing grounds in Panatag Shoal. Big deal. Chinese patrol boats still ply the waters within our territory although they don’t drive away our fishermen anymore.
What about those billions of pesos China infused into the Philippines’ ambitious Build, Build, Build infrastructure program? Everything has its price. Duterte may dislike foreign aid with strings attached. Still, the Official Development Assistance be it from China or other countries has its quid pro quo in many forms, including looking the other way if the donor is encroaching in our backyard or fencing us with their military bases. We got rid of the US bases in Subic and Clark only to allow another foreign power in.
While Manila can thank Beijing for the assistance, it should be seen in its proper light. This is an appeasement present a lover gives to his mistress in exchange for staying on as the other woman. Economic experts believe that if the Philippines pursues The Hague ruling, it would reap bigger returns to be drawn from the exploration of oil and gas in the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile the Chinese continue to fortify their man-made islands with military installations even as we adopt a policy of appeasement. This can only whet the appetite of an unsatiable neighbor. We wonder what advice or counsel our Philippine ambassador to Beijing, Chito Sta. Romana, is giving to the President vis-à-vis bilateral relations with China.
Hardeep Singh, chairman of the Research and Information Development, warned the Philippines and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be cautious in accepting financial aid from China. Speaking at a recent forum with Asean journalists in New Delhi, Singh Puri said developing countries should take advantage of China’s loan assistance but must make sure they can pay over the years and that these infrastructure projects are viable.
There are many shortcomings in the past Aquino administration but filing a case before the Hague Tribunal to challenge China’s sweeping claim of the South China Sea has to be its one of, if not its only, major accomplishment. Unfortunately, Duterte might have imperiled the country’s security and squandered his own political capital by snuggling up to China. Only time will tell if it’s the right policy to play up to China while disengaging from traditional allies like the United States and the European Union with whom we do much trade. Security, trade and high esteem in the international community are not achieved by narrowing our friends and multilateral relations.
How will Duterte explain or justify this benign neglect of our victory in the Hague Tribunal when he delivers his second State of the Nation Address before a joint session of Congress on July 24? For sure, we will witness the nodding heads and rounds of applause by the Duterte-dominated House of Representatives. To do so would entail the plus and minus of such a policy, including an accounting of the financial assistance granted by China to defray the staggering cost of the administration’s ambitious infrastructure projects. But because we have the masses who can relate to Duterte’s “kanto boy” antics and language, the conscripted Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia surveys will still come out with Digong enjoying high acceptance ratings.
Such is the state of affairs in this country. The people get the kind of leaders they deserve.
Flirting with Russia
No, we are not talking about Duterte’s flirting with Vladimir Putin. From what is emerging in the current controversy over the Trump campaign team’s dalliance with a Russian operative, things could get messy.
No one in Washington is saying the “I” word yet by political opponents of President Donald Trump and critics like the New York Times. But impeachment, if the allegations are proven that Donald Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort who are key members of the Trump campaign team, met with Russian lawyer and Kremlin operative Natalia Veselnitskaya to get dirt to derail Hillary Clinton’s White House bid, is a possibility. The meeting according to the NYT report took place at the Trump Tower in New York
If Trump is not impeached for tainting a sacred American political process, he just might go the way of former President Richard Nixon who had to resign because of his role and cover-up in the break-in of the Democrat headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington.
Like Gerald Ford, Vice President Mike Pence might suddenly find himself in the Oval Office.