Events like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit are always exciting and filled with significance of some sort or another. It is just difficult trying to figure out if there is any importance to the event. Manila 2017 was not an exception.
The highlight of this summit was obviously the “Asean Handshake.” This is when a group of the most powerful leaders in the region, if not on Earth, stands in line on stage and cross their arms to hold hands with the person on each side. Realize that, when done properly, it looks as if all these great people are wearing straightjackets, ready to be led off to the nearest mental hospital.
Actually, that would probably make at least some of their citizens extremely happy to see their leader carted away.
Each year, there is one leader who cannot figure out how to do it properly. In 2015 Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III may have been the winner, as he was standing on one end and appeared to be holding the hand of an invisible leader. This year the winner was US President Donald J. Trump, who fumbled the whole exercise.
However, the real winner was Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who ignored the cross- grip handshake thing and simply held hands like any normal person would. Tell the truth. Have you ever seen any ordinary person do the Asean Handshake…at least when sober?
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, may have won the “killjoy” award of 2017 with her comment that the Filipino barong she was presented with was “scratchy and quite starched.” Each barong—from fashion designer Albert Andrada—was individualized for each leader. Believing that climate change is “the greatest challenge facing this generation,” you would think she would be pleased with natural-fiber clothing, scratchy or not.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made special trips while in the Philippines. Both leaders appeared to be making a personal statement about global hunger and nutrition. Modi visited the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños; Trudeau went to the Jollibee restaurant in Tondo, Manila.
The best part—for some of us —was the exploding heads on both sides of the Pacific Ocean every time President Duterte and Trump were pictured together. Of course, it is completely acceptable for people to take their political views and hold them close. But the emotional turmoil that these two men take on some people is astounding; transcending any intellectual thought process is amazing.
While these sorts of get-togethers by national leaders happen all the time, the Asean is special because it is Asian. Other leaders are invited, particularly from the West, but they are here as guests and observers. While they may have their own particular interactions with the members of the Asean, they are not Asian in form or context, and that is an important difference.
Unlike in the West, personal relationships are still important in Asia. In 1984 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.” That statement is based on a personal face-to-face relationship that developed over time and cannot be achieved with today’s electronic communication.
Asians know that a personal relationship can smooth problems and also create friction if that relationship is not respected. Business people —even in the West—understand that idea and Trump is a business person.
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