Acrimony seems to be replacing the friendship and cooperation that have, historically, been characteristics of the US-Philippine relationship; this change has set in since the election of Rodrigo Duterte as the Philippine President.
Duterte’s “colourful language”, to quote former US. President Barack Obama whom Duterte called “son of a whore”, has not exactly made him endearing to the US. However, the election of Donald Trump as Obama’s successor has also not changed much so far. Duterte’s ex-judicial killings of both drug addicts and traffickers, have shocked many in the West, with human rights’ organisations and NGOs urging the US and the European Union to strongly condemn Duterte’s brand of lynch justice.
Indeed, Congressman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts-based Democrat, threatened to organise protests against Duterte’s US visit, after it became known that Trump had invited Duterte to visit the US during a telephone conversation. McGovern further enraged Duterte by calling a Congress hearing on Duterte’s drug war and his ex-judicial killings.
Duterte, on his part, called the US “lousy” and said that he would expose to the world what Americans did to the Moro Filipinos, alluding to the Battle of Bud Dalo in 1906 on the island of Jolo in southern Philippines, when American troops killed hundreds of Moro people who were trying to take over the Muslim-dominated Mindanao.
Nevertheless, despite the present-day acrimony, the two countries have had a long period of cooperation dating back to the Spanish-American War.
Indeed, the US recently delivered two surveillance planes — Cessna 208B aircraft — to the Philippines to bolster the latter’s capability to patrol the maritime borders. Apparently, keeping in mind China’s sensitivities, the Philippines said that these aircraft are not spy planes, “only surveillance aircraft because they are not stealth”.
However, Filipino military experts have acknowledged that the US had transferred the planes under its $425-million Maritime Security Initiative to help Southeast Asian countries tackle regional security challenges, including China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Washington does not want the Philippines to come into China’s stranglehold. Experts contend that Duterte threw away his trump card against China by not taking advantage of The Hague Tribunal’s ruling rejecting China’s “historic claims” to shoal islands claimed by the Philippines in the South China Sea. Duterte has cozied up with China which has offered economic sops as compensation for the Philippines’ silence. The Chinese have given funding pledges to the Philippines worth some $24 billion. Of course, it is another question if and how much of that money will actually be realised.
US. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently attended in Manila the ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which the Philippines Is a founding member. Though North Korea was the “burning question” on his agenda, Tillerson also held detailed discussions with the ASEAN member states on the South China Sea. Tillerson underscored US commitment to the Asia Pacific region — and, in effect, to counter China’s belligerence in the South China Sea against the smaller and much weaker claimants.
In a meeting with the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who was also in Manila for the ASEAN meetings, Tillerson raised the South China Sea issue, calling for an early adoption of a code of conduct over competing territorial claims.
The warming up of the Philippine-China relations since Duterte became President is a marked departure from the past suspicion and resentment harboured by Manila vis-a-vis China. As the ASEAN chair for 2017, the Philippines even tried to cover up the discord among other ASEAN members at the Manila meeting.
By putting aside The Hague Tribunal’s ruling, Duterte has merely emboldened China into institutionalising its presence in the South China Sea on the basis of its “historical claims” over the mineral-rich islands. Vietnam spoke aloud what the other ASEAN member countries were merely thinking about China’s belligerence and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea. Endeavours to establish a code of conduct between the ASEAN and China in the South China Sea were mired in extreme interpretations, with the ASEAN wanting to give it a legally-binding character and the Chinese opposing it. China also does not recognise the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Although China has reclaimed seven reefs, and now deploys combat planes on three, it has signalled its willingness to negotiate a code of conduct on the South China Sea, though many experts see the change in China’s behaviour as a ploy to buy time to strengthen its military capability and establish its sovereignty over the islands.
Ignoring the claims of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in goods pass every year.
Notwithstanding Duterte’s soft stance on China at the Manila meeting, US-Philippine ties are old and enduring. However, Duterte should understand that his kowtowing to China could be interpreted as subservience and encourage China to nibble away the rights of the ASEAN claimant states, including the Philippines.
Notwithstanding the discord with the US, Duterte should not freeze or reduce the level of cooperation with Washington. He surprised many with his cordiality, for a change, when he told Tillerson “I am your humble friend”. That was a good start.
