More than friendship

President Xi Jinping evoked statements of friendship and a new beginning during the state dinner in his honor. I would think differently. It is about reviving the long-term history between our two countries. That long history of friendship has not faded.

It was an occasion for reiterating friendship between the two countries. I venture to say that it was more than friendship. It was a demonstration of a long-time history of relations between two peoples that has not faded.

This interpretation of a long time history was the contribution of the Annales school (French pronunciation: [a’nal]) of a group of historians in France to stress long-term social history.

The most influential of these historians was Fernand Braudel. He became famous for his book The Mediterranean. For Braudel there is no single Mediterranean Sea. There are many seas – indeed a “vast, complex expanse” within which men operate. Life is conducted on the Mediterranean: people travel, fish, fight wars, and drown in its various contexts. And the sea articulates with the plains and islands. Life on the plains is diverse and complex; the poorer south is affected by religious diversity (Catholicism and Islam), as well as by intrusions – both cultural and economic – from the wealthier north. In other words, the Mediterranean cannot be understood independently from what is exterior to it. Any rigid adherence to boundaries falsifies the situation.”

The same interpretation can be made of the lives and the peoples around the South China Sea as it did in The Mediterranean. It cannot be encompassed by events. Several levels are going on at the same time. “

“The first level of time, geographical time, is that of the environment, with its slow, almost imperceptible change, its repetition and cycles. Such change may be slow, but it is irresistible. The second level of time comprises long-term social, economic, and cultural history, where Braudel discusses the Mediterranean economy, social groupings, empires and civilizations. Change at this level is much more rapid than that of the environment; Braudel looks at two or three centuries in order to spot a particular pattern, such as the rise and fall of various aristocracies. The third level of time is that of events. This is the history of individuals with names. This, for Braudel, is the time of surfaces and deceptive effects. With the Mediterranean so it is with the South China Sea which treats of “events, politics and people.” This stream cannot be perceived but it is going on.”

This legacy was there without being expressed. Most of those present had names from Chinese origin. In the room alone, there were dozens of names of Filipinos which came from Chinese origin. As Ambassador Chan says it would be more proper to call us Chinese Filipinos than Filipino Chinese. There – Tan, Ang, Chan, Chu etc.

When he laid a wreath on Jose Rizal’s monument he was reminded that the ancestral family name of our national hero was Jose Co, the great-great grandson of Siang Co and Zun Nio from Fujian, China.

For me the ouvre of the evening was Lea Salonga singing “I dreamed a dream.” As I looked up at the stage, where Xi Jinping and Duterte sat they reopened a long history that included the struggle on how to close the gap between the many poor and the few rich in China and the Philippines. This is the high point of the longue duree of Philippine-Chinese relationship.

It is a dream of  time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

When she reached for the high note I wanted to clap but did not dare and there was no movement from the crowd. We were just stunned.

The critics of the new relations promised by the two leaders is better explained by the history of longue duree. It has taken a long time. Duterte reopened that long history when he visited China in October 2017.  By doing so he was praised and criticized  as a genius who knows  how to “play both sides.”

That evening goes far deeper than new friendship. It is about an old friendship with its ups and downs that spanned centuries. In introducing this kind of political diplomacy, President Duterte has shown to the world at large this  was  how we could find a way out of the dilemma that others in the region could follow.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s abrupt move from being a dependent  US ally to a more independent and neutral stance between the US and China is an example of the art of the possible. So far, the Philippines has benefited from its better relationship with China while maintaining its military relationship with the US.

Earlier that same day the American ambassador spoke to Philippine foreign service to remind them of the Mutual Defence Treaty and the aid that came with it. He spoke about 67 years of friendship. Quo Vadis? Where is it going? In the Annales Schoool of history 67 cannot even begin to compare with centuries of history and life around the South China Sea.

Duterte may have calculated that the US needed the Philippines more than the Philippines needs military aid and what comes with it. Our country is their base to project power in the region and for more practical reasons the place to supply and maintain their warships and planes as well as a resting for their crews. In leaning to China, he gained leeway with the US. It was a master stroke and an example of other countries in our region too timid to tackle US military power.

The speeches of both heads of state reflected this search for a workable style of relationship with two countries competing for hegemony in the region.

From hereon Duterte of the Philippines will have to be constantly on guard to keep balancing acts that first came with his historic visit to China in October 2017. President Xi Jinping’s visit to Manila was a follow up to that daring step. The world was taken aback that a Filipino leader was capable of stepping up its foreign policy. The Philippines has set an example for other Southeast Asian countries to follow.