THE ruling party PDP-Laban defended President Duterte’s pro-China and seeming anti-United States foreign policy as his way of protecting the national interest and keeping the Philippines out of the “line of fire,” amid the brewing political rivalry between the two superpowers.
In his recent public pronouncements, Mr. Duterte had been balking at US interference in domestic affairs. Palace officials had explained that the Philippines is not diverting to China and is not cutting ties with its traditional ally, the US, but is merely adopting an independent foreign policy free from interference from anybody.
“This reorientation to have an independent foreign policy comes at a crucial time where the economic and political rivalry between US and China, along with Russia, is intensifying. With the shifting global realities, it is more prudent for President Duterte not to put his country in the line of fire. US forces’ presence in the Philippines may be perceived by China as a threat,” a statement from PDP-Laban’s Policy Studies Group head Jose Antonio Goitia said.
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a Philippine delegation to Beijing on Wednesday that the bilateral relations between the Philippines and China is at a new turning point after having “sunk to a low edge for reasons everyone knows,” alluding to the arbitration case recently decided in favor of the Philippines by the United Nations’ Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar said the recent pronouncements by Mr. Duterte, which was seemingly welcomed by China’s vice foreign minister, do not signal any “diversion” of the Philippines’s foreign policy toward China.
“When you create an independent foreign policy, it’s really just saying that we are a sovereign state and we are not beholden to any country. That’s all that we’re saying. We’re not severing ties with our allies, and our friendship with the Americans go a long way,” Andanar said in a news conference on Thursday.
However, the Philippines is admittedly trying to become “less dependent” on the US for support, as Presidential Spokesman Ernesto C. Abella said when asked to clarify whether the recent pronouncement of the President for US soldiers to leave Mindanao was immediately executory. Abella said there was no directive for US soldiers to immediately leave Mindanao, and that Mr. Duterte’s pronouncement “was not policy yet.”
The ruling party’s policy think-tank believes that Mr. Duterte’s apparent shift to China as the country’s main ally is a strategic move to push for the national interest.
“Contrary to what the critics are saying, pursuing an independent foreign policy and the call to pull out troops from Mindanao are not only part of the President’s anti-Barack Obama stance, but more important, it is President Duterte’s way of protecting the national interest and security,” Goitia said.
“In the face of the West Philippine Sea territorial dispute, the least the Philippine government can do at this point is not to project itself as a threat to China. What is at stake are not only the natural resources of the contested areas in the West Philippine Sea, but also the livelihood and safety of the overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China,” he added.
Image credits: AP