Enrile slipped: China is a friend, not an enemy

The Inquirer headline in bold—“Treason”—was explosive. The sub-headline was intriguing: “JPE accuses Trillanes of working for China” (Inquirer, 9/20/12). In a privilege speech, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV denounced Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as a “lackey” of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Enrile countered that Trillanes was a fifth columnist and a coward. But what drew our interest was Enrile’s reference to China as an “enemy” or “potential enemy.”

In international relations, the wise dictum is: There are no permanent allies (or enemies), only permanent interests. In World War II, Germany and Italy were allies; they were enemies in World War I. The United States fought Germany, Italy and Japan in the last world war; it helped them to economic recovery after that war more than it did its allies, like the Philippines.

Special missions or “backdoor” diplomacy are a regular feature of international politics, as observed by Gen. Jose Almonte, Commodore Carlos Agustin, Professors Harry Roque and Antonio La Viña, and a think-tank body founder, Scott Harrison (Inquirer, 9/23/12). Indeed, from Emilio Aguinaldo to President Noynoy Aquino, our heads of state have exercised this sensitive option in diplomacy. The special envoy or agent is accountable only to the president.

Surely, Senator Enrile is aware that, during the time of President Ferdinand Marcos, secret missions were performed by special envoys and even ambassadors-at-large, like Roberto Benedicto, Eduardo Cojuangco, Imelda Marcos. Whether they succeeded in their assigned tasks, only the president knew. When Imelda planted a kiss on the forehead of an aging Mao Zedong in 1975, it sealed the establishment of diplomatic relations between Manila and Beijing. The normalization of relations with socialist countries was historically a top achievement of the Marcos administration in international diplomacy. Of course, the end of Marcos’ rule was conveyed to him by President Ronald Reagan’s emissary, US Sen. Paul Laxalt, about 10 years later, who told Marcos to “cut and cut cleanly.”

Senator Enrile’s slip of the tongue on China was unfortunate. China has been a friend. Economically and culturally, we are with China. The dynamics of geopolitics tells us to be with China. However, considerations like a sentimental “commingling of Filipino and American blood in Bataan and Corregidor” have blurred our perception.

Is China an “enemy”? The world wants China. We also need her. Even the United States owes China billions, if not trillions, of dollars. Obviously, Enrile’s political or diplomatic spectacles are unfocused. And no one has even asked him how he obtained a copy of the Brady notes, a confidential or secret diplomatic document—displaying “hubris in the Senate.”—NELSON D. LAVIÑA, retired ambassador, nlavina3@fastmail.fm