Marcos and ‘revenge diplomacy’

United States Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson called it “revenge diplomacy”—the flurry of high level diplomatic engagements between the Philippines and the US since the administration of President Marcos began almost a year ago. In her 37 years in the US Foreign Service, she told Karen Davila in an interview, that she has never seen such high level engagement featuring President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III on the American side, and, on the Philippine side, hogging the limelight was Mr. Marcos with his usual crew of economic and political secretaries.

“Revenge diplomacy” is a play on “revenge tourism,” which refers to the pent-up desire for local and international travel that has been unleashed following the retreat of the COVID-19 threat across the world. After months of travel restrictions, lockdowns, and border closures, people are eager to embark on trips, explore new destinations, and reconnect with the big wide world.

But revenge diplomacy should also be seen from the clumsy way the Philippines engaged with the US and the world during the previous administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. This time, the Philippines is rushing to repair the Philippines’ frayed linkages to the world.

But revenge diplomacy is happening with unusual vengeance. Just over a week ago, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) met in Hiroshima for their annual summit, bringing to the Indo-Pacific region the global awareness of the unprovoked Russian aggression and continuing crimes of humanity against Ukraine, while making strong and unvarnished statements of concern about China’s assertive behavior in the West Philippine Sea and elsewhere.

The G7 Hiroshima Leaders Communiqué of May 20, 2023, is a highly strategic, far-seeing document that aims to promote shared values among themselves, with the intention of enlarging the way in which those values are shared across the world. The 40-page document states the G7 commitment on an unbelievable range of issues, from Ukraine (“support for Ukraine for as long as it takes in the face of Russia’s illegal war of aggression”), the Indo-Pacific (“support a free and open Indo-Pacific and oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion”), the 17 United Nations SDGs (“accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, recognizing that reducing poverty and tackling the climate and nature crisis go hand-in-hand.”)

There was much symbolism in the choice of Hiroshima as a venue for the summit, and the surprise physical presence of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heightened this sense for the world. Clearly, the role of regional players stepping up to the plate, like Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand, India, the Philippines, and Asean, is now part of the emerging conversation on “shared values” for the world to abide by.

Having stated the G7 serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas, the communiqué nevertheless nixed the idea of “decoupling” from China, stating that “We stand prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China.” They make it clear that “We act in our national interest. It is necessary to cooperate with China, given its role in the international community and the size of its economy, on global challenges as well as areas of common interest.”

It may be small comfort, but there is enough support for maintaining the status quo as the formula for “cold peace” in the Indo-Pacific region, especially poignant since it is driven by the lesson of missed opportunities for averting the Russian war on Ukraine.

So, there will be more “revenge diplomacy” events in the next few years. And there is no Filipino politician that will benefit more than Mr. Marcos. While he did not earn any real academic degree, those conversations on matters of state that he was exposed to as the son of Ferdinand Sr. silently prepared him for this role. It is almost like playing at president—all the cues, facial expressions, the tone of voice, the inflections, the choice of words, come automatically to this Marcos. He had superb on-the-job training.

And when we look at that other president who grew up in Malacañang, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, we can also see the need to walk the corridors of power. One might say, there goes another actor on the political stage.

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