Suggestion long in the works

In the front-page article of Kristine Felisse Mangunay titled “Almonte: Best policy to solve sea dispute is ‘people to people’ strategy” (6/8/14), former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte proposed several things.

First, a “people-to-people approach” to allow “exchanges” among Chinese and Filipino intellectuals given the fact that politicians are constrained by personal interests and Beijing’s intransigence on the territorial disputes. Almonte believes that such an approach will create a groundswell of public sentiment in China that will pressure Beijing into directing its policies on the disputes.

Actually, this has been an ongoing process for the past several decades, led by our country’s premier universities such as the University of the Philippines’ Asian Center, Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle University. Chinese and Filipino scholars have met not only in local conferences but in international forums as well. They are doing this on their own volition or in coordination with several government agencies depending on the nature of the academic activity.

However, the desired effect has not been achieved, and instead the growth of China’s economy and the rise of Chinese nationalism have resulted in the present situation in the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese government, being a totalitarian one, has always kept a tight grip on academics, and there is always that threat of being branded a dissident hanging over the head of every intellectual in China. Even our own academics who have tried to establish bridges with their Chinese counterparts have also faced difficulty not only in getting the message across to Beijing but also because some of our own hawkish countrymen deride them as modern-age Quislings or Benedict Arnolds.

In other words, Almonte’s suggested approach to building better understanding among Filipinos and Chinese has been done, and is still being done at this very moment.

It is never “a waste of time” to deal with the Chinese leaders no matter how intransigent they may be. I remember that during the Ramos administration, there were serious attempts to dialogue with the rebels no matter how intransigent they were. After all, it’s always better to talk than to shoot.

Lastly, Almonte was quoted as saying that had President Aquino elevated the issue (territorial dispute) to the tribunal “years ago,” then Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) would not have been occupied. In the same vein, had the Ramos administration elevated to the international courts the territorial disputes we had over the Kalayaan Island Group, then most likely the Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef) would not have been occupied. Though that, too, is all water under the bridge.

—JOSE ANTONIO CUSTODIO,

historian, magach7@yahoo.com