Friendship with China

There has been so much ado about the size of the investment purportedly generated for the country by President Aquino’s Beijing visit that one risks altogether missing the forest for the trees. The visit after all is a diplomatic one, one that’s both a reaffirmation and an adventure: a reaffirmation of official relations now obtaining for nearly four decades, and an occasion for venturing forth into other directions, other inspirations. It’s an opportunity to check whether relations have taken root so that the tree could branch out to other growths, other “sunshines.”

To be sure, the search for a ballpark figure to portray the size of the investments numerically and impressively—as much as $60 billion, it is touted—is a pragmatic reflex that owes to Oriental realism. Diplomacy with the Middle Kingdom is economic diplomacy. Anything to do with Big China is big business. But money is not always everything although it nearly is. Take the case of the Spratlys. Because it came under the pall of the two countries’ konfrontasi (admittedly low-intensity) over the islets and atolls (said to be rich in oil and mineral deposits) lying west of the Philippines and south of China (the locus here is not merely geographical but also geopolitical), the visit had nearly been written off as one of those obligatory ceremonial things both countries exchange whenever there’s a new leader in either of them. But since Mr. Aquino and his counterpart, President Hu Jintao, were under pressure to show some progress along that front, they were expected at least to nudge the talks over the issue a little further, make any move that would somehow belie the common impression of an impasse and of things going nowhere.

If Mr. Aquino’s accounts of the meeting were to be believed, then a little nudge had indeed been made. Talking to reporters, he said that Hu had asked for an agreement that would govern the implementation of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties, the accord signed by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2002 to regulate the conflicting claims of the various countries disputing the Spratlys. “You have a statement from the superpower of the bloc saying, ‘Let’s put in black and white exactly how to implement this’,” the President said in an informal talk with reporters.

His remarks should provide some flesh and spirit to the rather dispirited language of the official communiqué of their meeting: “Both leaders exchanged views on the maritime disputes and agreed not to let the maritime disputes affect the broader picture of friendship and cooperation between the two countries . . . (and reiterated their commitment) to addressing the disputes through peaceful dialogue, to maintain continued regional peace, security, stability and an environment conducive to economic progress.” The President explained that while the positions of the two countries prior to the meeting “were so disparate,” he felt that his talk with Hu cleared things up and reaffirmed Chinese commitment to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. “Our positions previous to this (visit) were really so disparate,” Mr. Aquino said. “But in this particular instance, there was that adherence to peaceful means, getting our people to talk together fully to come to a common framework of resolving the issue.”

Another sign that the visit had yielded positive results beyond the clink of the cash register is the expression of China’s openness to reconfiguring the NorthRail project. The project had been put on hold and under review by the Philippines because its cost had skyrocketed from $503 million to $2 billion. According to Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the reconfiguring would extend the line from Mabalacat, Pampanga (where the Clark airport is) to Makati’s central business district. As the project stands, the line will end at Caloocan City.

It’s not clear whether the reconfiguring would justify the ballooning price tag of the project, but the fact that Chinese authorities are open to it should indicate they felt bound to save the project. Over the long term perhaps, the Philippines and China must set terms and conditions that would foster greater transparency in construction projects, something that was neglected in the previous administration, which was also behind the $330-million NBN contract with China’s ZTE Corp. and other several deals.

With progress on the Spratlys dispute, coupled with the thrust to correct past iniquities in several controversial business deals with China, there would be greater basis for the two countries’ agreement to declare 2012 and 2013 “friendship” years.