EDITORIAL - Zero-sum game

If this is a separation, what is the cost? Administration officials will have to spend the coming days explaining exactly what President Duterte meant when he announced yesterday in Beijing that he was “separating” from the United States, not only security-wise but also economically.

The 1.2 million Filipinos working in American business process outsourcing companies alone must be worried about their jobs. The US is also a top investor in semiconductor manufacturing – the No. 1 export of the Philippines. Millions of Filipinos remit earnings from the US to their relatives back home. Two-way trade stands at $25 billion.

If the President is unhappy with the nation’s ties with a particular country, the disagreements can be discussed and kinks ironed out through the proper channels. This is what he is pursuing with China, which has yet to abide by the ruling of the United Nations-backed Permanent Arbitration Court that tossed out Beijing’s nine-dash-line claim over nearly the entire South China Sea and awarded the Philippines sovereign rights over several areas in disputed waters.

The court ruling also declared Panatag or Scarborough Shoal off Zambales as a common fishing area, and that China violated Philippine fishing rights when it seized the shoal. President Duterte said he would raise the issue during his China visit. As of yesterday, however, there was no word from Beijing on whether it would end its occupation of the shoal.

Why does the country have to burn its bridges with a long-time ally just to cozy up to a new friend, which won’t even abide by international rules? China and the US themselves have strong ties in many aspects especially economic, and find it mutually beneficial to see each other prosper.

Addressing businessmen in Beijing, Duterte said the Philippines is now part of a triumvirate, together with China and Russia, against the world. It’s uncertain if Russia is aware of the triumvirate, and if the two countries feel they are allied against the world.

Russia and China are rivals of the United States, but the two countries also maintain links with Washington in many aspects. And all three countries often find themselves needing to work together on matters with international ramifications in the UN – a body Duterte has also showered with threats including a possible withdrawal by the Philippines. We all live in the same planet. A nation plays a zero-sum game in alliances and isolates itself from the community of nations at its own peril.