Duterte said
this in Beijing, ‘Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also,
America has lost. America has lost a 70 year ally in the Philippines to
China.
The USA has
been crooning the 70 years of dominating the Philippines as a smaller member of
the military alliance as ‘rich people to people ties, including a vibrant
Filipino American diaspora, and a long list of shared security interests.’ They
did not want to remind the Pinoys that the relations went back even further, to
1898 when they invaded and colonized the Philippines and the massacres of the
Pinoys by the Americans. …We also remain one of the Philippines’ strongest
economic partners, the current stock of US foreign direct investment stands
above US$4.7b’.
The 4 day
visit by Duterte to Beijing has led to US$13.5b of agreement signed between the
two countries with more to come. And it revives the centuries old relationship
between the two countries and the people to people ties built over the past
with more than 2m Pinoys with Chinese ancestry and many millions more with
Chinese blood in them.
After all
these years of manipulation, coercion and behind the door arm twisting, all the
American effort and scheming came to nought on 20 Oct 16. The US$30m spent on the farcical kangaroo
court proceedings and rulings went up in smoke. Would the Americans now send
the bills to the Pinoys? All the cloak
and dagger hustling behind closed doors in Asean minister meetings to fix China
with the Pinoys as the point man now looked so ludicrous. It fell flat.
As they
said, man proposed God disposed. Someone up there just said enough is enough
and the chapter of American conspiracy to divide the Asean states against China
must come to an end. The most crucial piece of pawn in the American game plan,
the Philippines, called out. And Duterte even suggested an alliance with Russia
and China, and to tell Putin ‘that there are three of us against the world –
China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way.’
The changing
dynamics of the Asia Pacific balance of power would look very different going
forward. What would the Americans be thinking of doing? Brewing a military coup
against Duterte or an assassination bullet? Would there be more punitive
measures against the Philippines or more carrots, like throwing a few antique museum
pieces as gifts to the poor brown brothers’ navy for Christmas?
The whole
initiative to the new development came out of the blue, in one man, in Rodrigo
Duterte. He wrote the script and played the key role to change the course of
history of the Asia Pacific region. Now this is powerful.
The American
camp is in total disarray, not knowing what happened or what hit them. Obama,
you still there? Abe, where are you? More joint naval patrols, freedom of
navigation in the South China Sea without the approval of China and the
Philippines?
To quote
Foreign Secretary Yasay, ‘The US Philippines alliance is the most profound and
problematic institutional manifestation of this colonial legacy of arrested
development…The US held on to invisible chains that reined us in towards
dependency and submission as little brown brothers not capable of true
independence and freedom.’
