In a meeting of political parties from Asia and Europe, former Philippine Speaker Jose de Venecia identified various geo-political conflict areas in Asia that he said are capable of “difficult, dangerous but not impossible solutions” and of which “some have already been solved.”
At the first-ever meeting with leaders of the parties held in Seoul, Korea, de Venecia suggested that a “history of conflict avoidance and joint development involving rival nations abounds, perhaps as a result of intelligent, creative, humble and pragmatic diplomacy.”
The founding chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), co-chairman of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), and President Duterte’s Special Envoy for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Intercultural Dialogue, named the following contested areas:
–The Spratlys, claimed by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan in the South China Sea through which more than 50 percent of global shipping pass; and the Paracel isles, claimed by both China and Vietnam over which they have already fought a war, and now occupied by China.
He said “joint exploration and development and conversion of the areas into a Zone of Peace, Friendship and Development are the only viable solution instead of constant tension, conflict and possible explosive war”;
–The controversial Japanese-held tiny isles in the Senkaku Straits or Daiyou to the Chinese in the East China Sea; he said the “only common-sensical solution is a joint-administration and sharing of the potential hydro-carbons in the vicinity”;
–The conflict over Kashmir where substantial forces between India and Pakistan still face each other and over which they have already fought three bloody wars over 60 years, with potential for nuclear exchange;
–The conflict, involving dangerous skirmishes in the long mountain borders between India and China, with large swathes of contested high ground; Sino-Indian wars were fought in 1962, 1965 and 1971;
–The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh;
–The protracted war in Afghanistan;
–The unfinished Arab-Israeli conflict, which is still awaiting final settlement and the establishment of a Palestinian homeland under a two-state solution;
– The continuing bloody wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and areas of West Africa, bedevilled by ISIS, Al Qaeda, and tribal wars.
De Venecia, a five-time Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives, said the most violent threats are still those mounted by the ISIS-ISIL following the extremists’ early territorial victories and launching of a Caliphate in large areas of Iraq and Syria.
“Although routed in battle in recent weeks in the conquered territories, ISIS has since deployed deadly terrorist groups in various capitals of Europe and the US, and smaller units have shifted their activities to Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia, and an attack on Marawi City in Muslim Mindanao where it plans to establish a province of the Caliphate.”
Recalling his speeches before the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. and in the United Nations University in Barcelona, Spain, he told the Asia-Europe political leaders of the need for “bringing together the best elements of capitalism and socialism in a new applied art of governance, based on what works for a particular society over a specific historical period considering the persistent and incredibly huge gaps between the rich and poor in our time.”
He told leaders of the organizations:
“There will be a great need for trans-national, transcultural groupings like ours—since the problems that face us more and more transcend national, regional and even hemispheric boundaries.
“We cannot turn away from the pursuit of peace because the alternative, conflict and war, would be immeasurably costly and make all of us losers.
“We must all then strive together to achieve the multicultural understanding, which is the only basis for the long-term security of our Asian region, Europe, and the global community.”
“For understanding among the great civilizations is the only basis for global peace that will endure.
“The US and Europe provided the world a historic, great and inspiring lesson on how to lift a destroyed continent from the ashes of war.”
“In Asia, the US, Japan and 10-nation ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, and the rise of China led an incredibly great period of economic recovery and modernization after World War II, the Korean War and the Indo-China wars.”
De Venecia concluded: “We commend these great lessons and great moments in history to say that never again should we allow geo-political conflict, nationalist passions and false ideologies, and inordinate great power ambitions to once again threaten Asia, Europe and the other countries of the world.”
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ON ANOTHER FRONT: While some people in the academic community get themselves busy ranting about socio-economic problems, such as increasing tuition, power rate hikes, and the traffic – an increasing number of our colleges and universities are deeply engaged in research and development to look for solutions to vital societal issues.
At least 16 higher education institutions in the Philippines have partnered with five University of California campuses to pursue R&D studies under the Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) Project of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University are just two of our universities that are collaborating with the likes of University of California Los Angeles, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco to come up with studies focused on two priority areas: health innovation and translational medicine (HITM) and information infrastructure development (IID).
The PCARI Project was approved in 2013 as a new approach to enhance the skills and expertise of faculty, students, and staff of Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs). Through scholarships, training, and research partnerships with leading research universities in California, USA, the Project builds the capacity of Philippine colleges and universities for research that translates to technological innovations, strategic policies and concrete solutions to vital societal issues in health, food security, energy, environmental quality, disaster mitigation and others.
The Project has so far supported 29 collaborative research and development initiatives and 142 scholars including 10 pursuing graduate studies in the University of California (UC).
In the area of HITM, two of the most important findings to date are (1) discovery of ten pure compounds from plants and marine organisms with potential to treat drug resistant (artemisinin-resistant) malaria, and a low-cost portable diagnostic kit that can detect dengue as early as two days of the onset of fever that can be used by rural health workers in far flung areas of the country.
It’s interesting to know that in the area of information infrastructure development, one “invention” is a customized, low cost, low power and compact community cellular network that can extend the reach of mobile phones to hitherto unserved remote rural areas. With isolated communities in Aurora, Quezon as pilot test sites, it could be replicated in rural communities with no access to cellular communications.
Another result of the studies is an early warning system for plant diseases affecting banana plantations, which could be useful to our banana plant owners and farmers.
For 2017, PCARI has announced a new cycle of Request for Proposals for funding this year. Proposals must address significant societal problems and have the potential to bring about and sustain technology transfer or commercialization activities. For this cycle, proposals are encouraged in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Agriculture, Food Processing, Nutrition, Marine and Aquatic Sciences related to Health Innovation & Translational Medicine, and Information Infrastructure Development.
For information on project proposals, contact Andy Saracho, CP No. 0917530 5512. Deadline for submissions is July 31, 2017.
Email:dominitorrevillas@gmail.com