PBBM: Balancing US-Phl-China relations

“By preserving the Philippines’ diplomatic relationship with China, while strengthening ties with the United States and regional allies, Marcos Jr. is performing a delicate balancing act.”

This was how Tokyo University of Foreign Studies lecturer Jenny Balboa described the foreign policy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in her article titled, “Marcos Jr.’s delicate balancing act between China and the United States” published last April at the East Asia Forum, an Australia-based international policy forum centered on the Asia Pacific region.

Being virtually at the center of the intensive competition between the United States and China, we obviously have to deal with both nations even as we also need to thresh out individual issues with them. However, there have been developments that indicate the willingness of both nations to continue to restart the conversation with each other, as seen in the recent visit of US State Secretary Antony Blinken to Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who described the meeting as “very good,” saying that both sides “made progress and reached agreements on some specific issues.”

As President Xi himself acknowledged, the world needs the relationship between the two giant nations to be “generally stable.”

I personally saw how China has developed into the economic giant it is today, and marveled at the progress it has achieved over the decades, having first visited Beijing in 1974 just before we opened formal diplomatic relations with China in 1975.

I was then a news reporter for Channel 9 when I joined our basketball team, led by Basketball Association of the Philippines president Lito Puyat and the country’s top basketball players that included Ramon Fernandez, Sonny Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz, embarking on our “basketball diplomacy.” My uncle, then-Philippine Ambassador to the United States Eduardo Z. Romualdez, was appointed by President Marcos Sr. to head the delegation.

At that time, China was nowhere near what it is today. We stayed at the only major hotel in Beijing – the Friendship Hotel with big rooms and only one restaurant – which was more like a guesthouse for official visitors. We had the opportunity to meet Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s modernization and economic transformation. Subsequently, we were formally received by Premier Chou En-lai at the Great Hall of the People.

In 1983, I was back in Beijing with then-Ilocos Norte Governor Bongbong Marcos and several local leaders then, like Olongapo mayor Richard Gordon, Tawi-Tawi governor Nur Jaafar and Laoag City mayor Rudy Fariñas. My next trip to China was in 2005 when we visited Shanghai with the late Philippine STAR publisher Max Soliven. We were hosted by businessman Carlos Chan. The changes were remarkable, with five-star hotels and bustling shopping centers indicative of the economic transformation that was happening in China.

In September 2011, I was part of the business delegation of the late president Noynoy Aquino during his official visit to China, and it was apparent that our neighbor had become very prosperous, with the Chinese becoming the second biggest consumers of luxury items.

Contrary to misconceptions that we are pivoting towards one country at the expense of another, President Marcos Jr. has definitely made it clear that he is balancing the relationship with the two superpowers, and I think he is doing an excellent job – improving our country’s relationship with the United States while continually reaching out to China.

In the Q &A session at the ASEAN Leadership Forum organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies during his official visit to the US, PBBM was asked: How can he maintain a stable relationship with Beijing while still defending Philippine sovereignty?

The President’s reply was on point: “The same way that we maintain our relationship with the US. We constantly consult with our allies. We constantly keep our lines of communication open.”

Indeed, China is talking with us and as the President noted, he is seeing some progress in the situation regarding fishing rights in the West Philippine Sea. He knows, however, that desired results don’t happen overnight. “These things do not come very quickly… but we are slowly making progress because the key to that was really the improved communication between the Philippine government and the Chinese government.”

We do have a lot of serious issues with China regarding our territorial waters, but we continue to squarely face them head on. Our nation has faced so many challenges, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have also received help from our partners. For my part, president Rodrigo Duterte gave clear instructions that we needed to get life-saving vaccines for Filipinos. It was a great honor when president Duterte awarded me with the Order of Sikatuna for our efforts to procure Moderna vaccines and subsequently received substantial vaccine donations from the United States.

Upon instructions of President Marcos, we continue to make strengthening economic ties our number one priority in the US. Our defense strategy is already obviously being handled by our Department of National Defense, especially now with the appointment of Gilbert Teodoro as the new defense secretary.

This week, Senate President Migz Zubiri came to Washington, DC for a working visit. He had extensive interaction with US lawmakers such as Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Tim Scott of South Carolina. I am pleased that SP Migz is very much into energy development, knowing fully well that our country’s energy requirements are growing. Together with Senator Tolentino, SP Migz discussed a number of issues that include the reauthorization of the General System of Preferences and the defense procurement for our AFP modernization program.

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