New US envoy sees enduring ‘warmth’ in ties

MANILA, Philippines - His predecessor was subjected to presidential insults and a frosty sendoff by the administration, but America’s new top diplomat is in Manila and expects the “deep and extraordinary warmth” between the two countries to endure.

“Mabuhay, hello everyone. I am so excited to be here. Thank you very much for coming out this late in the evening. You know, from Washington to Manila is a very long flight,” US Ambassador Sung Kim said upon his arrival Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.

Kim, a Korean-American, was welcomed by US Deputy Chief of Mission Michael Klechesky upon his arrival on Korean Airlines flight KE 623 at around 10:20 p.m. on Thursday.

“It’s really one of America’s most enduring partnerships and there are many important dimensions in that relationship,” Kim told reporters, describing ties between the allies. “For me the most meaningful, the most fundamental is the deep and extraordinary warmth in the peoples of the two countries.”

Kim, a career diplomat, assumes his new portfolio amid stormy and complicated times, with President Duterte showing antagonism toward Washington over US criticism of the human rights situation in the Philippines.

“I think it is great respect, affection and admiration between the Americans and the Filipinos and that is clearly evidenced among the four million Filipino-Americans residing in the United States and the 250,000 Americans living and working in the Philippines,” he said. 

Kim said he looks forward to deepening the bonds between the two peoples and working with the Philippine government to strengthen this important partnership.

“I am very eager to get started and I am very much looking forward to meeting as many Filipinos as possible and visiting many beautiful places in the Philippines… And I know that my staff at the embassy has arranged a very busy schedule,” he said.

He said there was hardly any time to waste and that his new adventure starts the next day (Friday).

“So wish me luck and I am very confident that our relationship will continue to grow and deepen in the years to come,” he said.

Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Marie Banaag said Malacañang is hopeful of renewed relations with the US after the new ambassador arrived in Manila. 

Banaag said that Kim’s Asian background will give a boost to the long-time relationship between the Philippines and the US, which was affected recently by Duterte’s attacks against officials of the Obama administration.

“We welcome the new ambassador of the United States to the Philippines and sana po mas maganda ang pag-uusap at pakikipag-negosasyon natin, pakikipag-diplomasya, pakikipag-palitan natin ng diplomasya (we hope to have better communication, negotiations and diplomacy) with the US dahil Asian ang ating (because of our Asian) counterpart from the US,” she said at a press briefing in Malacañang yesterday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Thursday that Philippine-US relations can survive recent turbulence as he swore in the new ambassador to the Philippines.

President Duterte has forged closer ties with China, seen by some observers as a setback to the Obama administration’s effort to forge deeper ties with Asia.

Duterte has declared his desire to scale down military engagements with the US and has told President Barack Obama to “go to hell.”

But Kerry remained confident about the future of the 70-year alliance between the US and the Philippines, which is a former American colony, “notwithstanding a difference here or there about one thing or another.” With Christina Mendez