The imperatives of blooming China-Philippine relations

CHINA is completely swamping the United States in its campaign to demonstrate to the world the meaning of its regional and international advocacy for a “community of shared future for mankind.” The past month, as the year 2022 began, saw the enormity of China’s fraternal embrace for the Philippines which has faced daunting crisis upon crisis the past few months.

Typhoon “Odette” devastated large swaths of land and sea in the Visayas all the way down to Northern Mindanao. It was no surprise that at the Manila Forum, a big annual event sponsored by the Association for Philippine-China Understanding (APCU), no less than Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered the opening address, “Upholding China-Philippines friendship, jointly creating a bright future.”

A highlight of Minister Wang Yi’s remarks was his announcement of an added Chinese donation to Typhoon Odette victims amounting to 100 million yuan, or P800 million. In my initial citation of Chinese aid to the rebuilding of the devastated infrastructures and homes of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, I quoted the amount of P75 million. A reader criticized me for that and cited a US pledge — yet to be realized — claimed to amount to P950 million. I reminded the reader that Chinese aid was not to be measured by the amount given but by the purity of intention in giving it, like rushing to the rescue of Filipinos, providing them roofs over their heads and food in their stomachs at times they needed them most. I said it is the immediacy of the Chinese response to Filipino urgency that should count the most. No foreigner has beaten the Chinese in this regard. But still, if the reader would insist on quantifying aid in terms of pesos, then Minister Wang Yi comes up to it likewise in resounding tone: P800 million... and counting. For add to that, in fact, the earlier total of P75 million amount of relief packs distributed to typhoon victims as soon as nature’s wrath ended, then Chinese aid should now total P875 million — real immediately quantifiable assistance to the dayto-day subsistence of Filipinos, contraposed to the yet forthcoming US aid which, at any rate, Chinese help is just P75 million shy of.

So, let China deliver the coup de grace.

While the Defense department is toying with some charade of turning the country into a naval power of sorts by purchasing anti-ship Brahmos missiles from India, China astounds the US by donating to the Armed Forces of the Philippines P1 billion worth of heavy earth-moving equipment, trucks, cranes, ambulances and all the stuff needed by the AFP engineering and medical corps engaged in rehabilitation work in the devastated areas in the Visayas and Northern Mindanao. Add this P1 billion to the earlier total of P875 million, what do you get but a whopping P1.87 billion.

Now, let’s hear from that reader detractor of mine who bragged about US illusory help and slammed me for objectively reporting the reality of genuine Chinese friendliness and generosity.

Regardless of amount, Chinese aid to the Philippines in times of disaster has been prompted by purely humanitarian reasons. Take it at that. If anybody wants to talk politics in these times of disasters, then let him question the current deal that Philippine defense authorities are closing with US treaty ally India for the purchase of Brahmos shore-based anti-ship missiles. What does the country need those missiles for? If it is to deter Chinese naval landings, then forget it. Those missiles would be no sooner neutralized than they are emplaced. China’s superb missile warfare technology makes it capable of hitting targets in Europe and in the Northern United States without leaving Chinese shores. And in the first place, why would China attack the Philippines whose population includes more than 30 million of Chinese ethnicity? Of all countries of the world now, only the US continues to nurse an insatiable passion to reconquer the Philippines. But no matter, do we need those Indian missiles to deter an American naval attack? Nah! Chinese missiles will be blasting American battleships no sooner than they enter the Asia Pacific region.

China’s goodwill for the Philippines and the world took the past 10 years of persistent good deeds and a global pandemic of historic proportions to become obvious to our and the world’s peoples. It had been a slow slog for China’s world humanitarian efforts and information communication networks, as well as for its top-notch diplomats to overcome the provocations and taunting of the US and the Anglosphere media hegemony — and they have succeeded.

The Philippines is in the middle of a national election campaign and some decisions are to be made. One of the most pivotal issues is the foreign policy of the presidential candidates and relations with China. Sen. Panfilo Lacson said in his interview with Boy Abunda that he would use the Philippine Coast Guard against China while Vice President Leni Robredo says to use the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling as a “weapon” to form coalitions — both ignorant of the realities and the unlimited boon from cooperation such as the Reed Bank oil-gas joint deal.

We can take it from the success of President Duterte so far in navigating the difficult waters of the South China Sea as it is constantly being roiled by the US using lawfare behind the PCA ruling. To repeat for the umpteenth time, the PCA is not a court, not permanent and not an agency of the United Nations. That so-called PCA ruling only Amboys bandy about as legal for the Philippine claims on the West Philippine Sea has no force of law. UN spokesman Stefan Dujaric affirmed this in a statement in 2016.

With the advent of the Duterte administration, bacon upon bacon of economic assistance were heaped by China, all for the benefit of the Filipino people, while the US could only try to disrupt the blooming goodwill between China and the Philippines.

In this regard, there is a need to clarify the recent statement by the president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), whose thousands of members sustain at least half of the Philippine economy.

Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong suggested that the community will support any candidate that will continue to pursue the direction President Rodrigo Duterte took in relations with China.

“The federation is apolitical and we are not favoring any politician. What we are mandated to do is whoever the president is, we will support him wholeheartedly. We are watching very closely who will emerge in this coming election. But of course, we will choose the one who is close to the hearts of Tsinoys and the one who will continue the legacy of President Duterte, also Filipino-Chinese diplomacy. Let’s hope and pray that we will have a president that will truly alleviate the Filipino people from poverty,”

Meanwhile, the US continues to fumble along in the South China Sea trying to thump its chest but showing its Keystone Cops fiascos in recent mishaps. After the laughable crash of USS Connecticut into a seamount near China’s coast, another disaster followed — the crash of a US F35 into the South China Sea as it tried landing on its mother aircraft carrier Carl Vinzon, leaving seven crewmen injured — while the Japanese are rising in protest over 1,000 cases of Covid-19 in eight US military bases in Japan.