Re-thinking ‘China’

As I scanned the headlines after the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the only impression I had was that nothing has changed as far as the locals are concerned. Our ruling class of intellectuals remains xenophobic. The same apprehensions, suspicions, and speculations versus China were expressed by many groups as well as politicians concerning the possible deals entered into by the Philippine government with China. The “guest” was still on the ground and already a number of speculative commentators were already crying out for the government to be transparent concerning all the loans and deals that President Duterte and President Xi Jinping had signed. Time was when the host country and people politely kept the commentary at bay until after the guest has left the house or our air space. But this time there was none of that. The critics and paranoid personalities seemed to feel obligated to hang their dirty linen in public.

They might say their fears are with reason and is borne out by history. There is no disputing the fact that China has reclaimed or built up island bunkers in the South China Sea and has aggressively patrolled and imposed their will against others in the region. There is no arguing that. But on the other hand, eight Chinese tourists were shot dead in a bungled hostage negotiation in Luneta, and one Taiwanese-Chinese fisherman who was shot by Philippine Coast Guard personnel. We in a manner of speaking drew first blood not just once but twice, albeit that it was done by psychos and not sanctioned or abetted by the Philippine government. If the Chinese were half as quarrelsome as some of our politicians and elite intellectuals are, what were the chances that parts of the Philippines would now have been occupied territory?   

It is understandable to fear what we don’t know. But perhaps it is now time for Filipinos to re-think “China” and discover China as a people, nation and unavoidably as allies instead of treating them as the unwelcomed rich neighbor who annoys everybody simply because they are bigger and better off in more ways than one.

It is undoubtedly hard to trust the Chinese coming from a history where our grandparents or great grandparents spoke Spanish, had Spanish names, were taught that the mestizos or mestizas were beautiful and desirable and where the local Chinese were called “Intsik” or “Beho” and treated disrespectfully. Of course it did not help that in their effort to preserve their culture and protect their ability to generate wealth through unity, that the Chinese also discriminated against non Chinese, especially Filipinos from marrying into their clans. Many are the broken-hearted Filipinos and Filipino Chinese who went through life because of such “cultural” restraints.

Curiously, I wonder how Filipino sentiments would change about China if we did a massive genetic analysis of Pinoys to determine just how many and how much of us are actually more Chinese than anything? I’ve been told that somewhere, way, way up in the family tree of the Beltrans and the Salcedos (my Mom side), there was once a China Man who sported pigtails. That is as Chinese as you can get, I think?

After our Spanish colonial experience, we came under the Americans who used bullets and chocolates to win the hearts and minds of their “Little Brown brothers.” Those were the “good old days” when all we ever used to watch was “American” TV such as Combat and Rat Patrol that portrayed Americans as heroes, the Germans and Japanese as enemies and the Chinese as Kung Fu masters or railroad slave labor. Ironically, while the Chinese were slave laborers on the US railways, Filipinos were migrant laborers in the pineapple and cotton farms living just a tad better than slaves.

Half of the food we bought, along with other consumer products, were “Proudly Made in USA.” Most middle to upper class Filipinos born from the ’20s to the ’70s were brown skinned GI Joe wannabes. In fact most of my generation were raised toward dreams of going to the US and getting the coveted Green Card. By then the tables had turned because my generation lived and experienced the dreams of their parents only to discover that even with a Green Card you were never good enough and never American enough. The thing about all our pro-American mentality was because we were taught that they were our Big Brothers!

Unlike my many friends who stayed long in “the land of milk and honey,” I found myself visiting, discovering Europe and eventually marrying someone from the Netherlands. Everything was very different than the “Good Old USA” or the culture and attitudes of Manila’s elite mestizos. Once again I had to learn, unlearn and appreciate something different in terms of food, religion, culture even a lit bit of language. I was not forced or required to, it was such a welcome experience to hear, see, smell, touch, and compare a totally new world. This particular experience taught me to open my eyes to the WORLD and not just parts of it. We cannot begin to know what to do or how to deal with China if we don’t change our mindset. I recently came across a quotation related to changing mindset that really brings this message together. It is from Damien Thomas, a British actor:

“If you change your mindset, you have the ability to change your world.” Perhaps it’s time to….”

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