In light of the President’s recent visits to the two major Asian powerhouses, China and Japan, we will highlight the Philippines’ intentions to create an entirely new foreign policy and what it means to us and what more should be done.
You are all aware of the President’s severe (and sometimes vulgar) criticisms towards the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations over their concerns about the rising death toll of the ongoing war on drugs.
Prior to his departure to Laos to attend the ASEAN Summit in Laos, his infamous “putang ina, mumurahin talaga kita sa forum na yan” (which was also grossly mistranslated to “son of a bitch”) prompted US President Barack Obama to cancel his bilateral meeting with President Duterte.
Over time, he has also signaled intentions to break away from Washington’s sphere of influence and instead pivot to China (which was his one of his campaign promises) and Russia (he has expressed his intentions to meet with President Vladimir Putin and has talked to Prime Minister Medvedev during the ASEAN Summit.)
He was able to bring home a combined $24 billion worth of loans and investments and the Filipinos’ return to fishing near the Scarborough Shoal which was halted since the 2012 standoff.
After visiting China, he went to Japan, talking to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and also bringing home $19 billion worth of investments.
With these in mind, it seems that we are prioritizing our Asian neighbors and also making efforts to rely less on Washington.
Others have concerns that these developments may result in a drop of US aid, loss of US investments, or even result in a US-orchestrated regime change ops (which heaven forbid does not happen). [Duterte has also highlighted American sins in the PH during the period of 1898-1946, including but not limited to the Bud Dajo and Balanginga massacres.]
Which then leads us to what we should do. Here are some of the proposals we would like to put forward:
- With the urging of the Russian ambassador, we formulate our wishlist so whatever assistance we may need from Russia, we receive it
- A pivot to Latin America will also help, despite economic hardships they are also seen as a new wave of superpowers, including Mexico and Brazil
- Meet with the new US president, be it Trump or Clinton and make clear of his intentions.
We’re not expecting that these will be acted upon (in one way or another), but let’s await of the developments and see where they are taking us.
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