China in Asia: Sino-Philippine relations

China's astounding economic growth has earned it a place among the main players on the world stage. How is its rise perceived by its Asian neighbors? Radio86 interviews Senator Francis N. Pangilinan, former majority floor leader of the Philippine Senate.

Radio86: How would you describe current Sino-Philippine relations?

Sen. Pangilinan: Sino-Philippine relations go back a long long way. During his state visit in 2005, President Hu Jintao pointed out that bilateral relations began a thousand years ago when Chinese merchants first came to the Philippines to trade. Data also shows that almost 70 percent of all Filipinos have Chinese ancestry.

We enjoy strong bilateral relations which have become even stronger in the last decade because of the peaceful rise of China. The US has been overtaken by China in terms of being our biggest trading partner. There has been a major shift in Philippine policy in the last ten years. We felt a need to diversify partnerships and create more economic partners, leading to China becoming our biggest trading partner. We've seen unprecedented growth under one decade in bilateral trade.

Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have also made state visits to China. I'd like to think that the relationship between China and the Philippines has moved forward vastly in the last decade.

Is it all positive?

Definitely not. There will always be a downside to any relationship. There have been some questions regarding business and trade practices between our country and China. One issue which recently hogged the headlines was the National Broadband Network contract that was awarded to the Shenzhen-based company ZTE. The contract was eventually nullified because of accusations that ZTE had offered kickbacks to government officials.

Of course, we are concerned about security. There have been some irritants, first of which would be the Kalayaan group of islands dispute, where you have Chinese poachers encroaching on what we believe to be our territory.

The US, the only superpower in the world and its interest in a growing China, is another major issue in the region. They are here precisely because they want to provide some sort of check on the growth of China. When the elephants start to fight, the ants have to step back or be crushed. We have to be careful as a nation to be able to pair them off or pit them against each other for the benefit and the interest of the Philippines and not make our interests suffer because of the tension that may arise between those two countries.

What role is China perceived to have in the region?

This is something we are quite interested in in terms of dealing with China. Would it be strategically viable for us to maintain stronger bilateral ties or should we work towards multilateral arrangements through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN has the opportunity to be a player in the region. I think in the medium and long term, we should strengthen ASEAN and multilateral relations without, of course, abandoning bilateral relations. It's a careful balancing act.

China's growing military might is something that needs to be monitored, Sen Pangilingan says. (Image: China News Service)For example, considering that the dispute in the South China Sea, which is the Kalayaan group of islands, affects five nations, will stronger bilateral ties with China move the issue forward? Obviously not. If there are five nations involved, then we have to find the solution through multilateral relations. That's why strengthening ASEAN's role and the Philippines' within ASEAN should be the strategy in terms of effectively engaging China.

China is a behemoth, it's huge. It has over 1.3 billion people. It's not just a manufacturer, it's also a consumer. If the saying is true that you do have strength in numbers, it will be good for ASEAN to consolidate its position as a bloc so that it will be able to deal with China more effectively.

How is China's rising military power seen in the region?

It should be seen as a concern, precisely because there are unresolved political disputes in the area, the Spratlys in our case, the continuing tension between the mainland and Taiwan. China's military rise is something that we have to keep monitoring. That's why I feel that in a strategic sense, engaging China through ASEAN would be more effective to be able to ensure that we strengthen economic ties and are able to manage and somehow prevent political conflict which might turn into a military conflict.

Has China's economic rise taught us anything?

Yes. A major issue that China is confronted with now is precisely the price of progress. Clearly, you'd like to see that as a template to avoid the painful experience of China in terms of its destruction of the environment. Twenty years of double-digit growth has taken its toll in quite a number of modernized urban centers. We'd like to learn from that, how to strike a healthy balance between progress and sustainable development and growth.

How has China's economic growth affected perception of its politics?

China has one party, which has ruled the nation for the last sixty years. The Chinese are very particular about their internal concerns, that matters that are internal to China should be left alone. We'd like to think the same way. If we have issues that are internal to the country, we wouldn't want other nations to be interfering.

I think the best way to engage China in issues that we may not see eye-to-eye is to strengthen our own ASEAN. We do have issues in ASEAN, such as the situation in Myanmar. There is also the issue of North Korea as well and the issue of the Taiwan Straits. In the long run, the question is how can ASEAN strengthen its engagement with China so that by interacting and exchanging views and ideas, we can hope to be able to build not a homogeneous but a more tolerant and at the same time, a more progressive East Asia.