Territorial disputes between China and centre Asian states boiled over
at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit last weekend in
Vladivostok, formerly the secretive naval base of the Soviet Russian Pacific
Fleet, culminating in President Benigno Aquino’s hurried departure on Sunday
after failing to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on
deteriorating Philippine-China relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
used the summit as a platform to showcase Russia’s main Pacific port city as
its window on the Asia-Pacific as it shifts the weight of its strategic
economic and political interests from Europe to the Pacific. But the summit
unmasked deep divisions over worsening territorial disputes in the region.
In opening the summit on
Saturday, Putin—the post-Soviet Russian czar—called on the 20 Apec heads of
state to open up trade among their countries and warned against rising
protectionism. But the spectre of territorial rows reared its head to mar the
conference. Hu, speaking at a forum of Apec business leaders, echoed Putin’s theme.
“To maintain peace and stability
as well as the sound momentum of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific is in the
interest of all countries in the region,” Hu said. “It is our shared
responsibility.” He went on to call on all to “ensure that tensions did not
escalate into serious conflicts.”
Of course, Hu was not calling on
China, which is at the centre of the disputes that are churning around the
islands, shoals and reefs in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) over
which China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have
overlapping claims. Hu’s speech must have been sickening for Aquino to hear,
which helps explain why in the photo opportunities during the cocktail
reception, Aquino didn’t eagerly appear in the front row of the leaders, making
himself more comfortable chatting with friendly colleagues, such as US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The summit was held amid
heightening disputes among China, Japan and South Korea over territories in the
East China Sea, as well as the rival claims of Southeast Asian nations the
Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia over islands in the South China Sea,
all of which is claimed by China. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
shunned bilateral talks with Hu and with South Korea’s Lee Myung-Bak because of
Japan’s separate dispute with Seoul. Ahead of the summit, the Philippines and
Vietnam had harsh words against China, accusing it of carrying out a campaign
of intimidation to enforce its claims on the West Philippine Sea.
In Vladivostok, China not only
engaged in double talk; it also actively sought to drive a wedge among the
Asean rival claimants. Using divide-and-rule tactics, it played them off
against one another. Hu held friendly bilateral talks on the sidelines of the
conference with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Brunei Sultan Hassanal
Bolkiah. Sang told Hu that Hanoi was ready to work with Beijing to push for an
early resolution of their disputes through peaceful consultations. While Hu was
doing this backdoor lobbying on the Philippines’ allies in Asean, he pointedly
kept the Filipino delegation in suspense until the last hour on the
arrangements of the bilateral meeting with Aquino, thus rubbing salt on wounds.
The president had told his aides
that the meeting with Hu was his top priority, not using the summit as an
opportunity to attract investments into the Philippines. He was at the wrong
place. Putin has said that the opening of the new suspension bridge in
Vladivostok across the Golden Horn to rival San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge
and the modernising of the port city to the tune of US$21 billion were intended
to draw investments into Russia’s far eastern region.
The Department of Foreign Affairs
has dismissed the fiasco as “a scheduling challenge, but a challenge that
turned out to be a bigger challenge than we anticipated.” Foreign Secretary
Alberto del Rosario said the President was disappointed. “I think that a lot
could have been achieved in terms of a meeting between the leaders, for them to
be able to share various points of view, and I think that this is not only a
downside for the Philippines but also for China. I think this is obviously a
missed opportunity,” Del Rosario said.
At a press briefing before flying
to Vladivostok, the president said he planned to conduct “a frank exchange of
thought” with Hu in order “to divorce the talks from diplomatic niceties.” The
president last met Hu during his state visit to China in August 2011. Since
then, relations between the two countries have been going downhill.
Experienced visitors to China,
including national delegations invited by Beijing, have learned the lesson that
the inscrutable Chinese keep their guests guessing up to the last minute
whether they would ever meet with leaders (or with what leaders in the
hierarchy) at the Palace of the People in the Forbidden City.
Now the outcome of the standoff
over the Spratlys and Scarbourough Shoal is even more uncertain than four
months ago, even as Chinese maritime vessels have made their presence permanent
at the rock formations claimed by the Philippines as part of its exclusive
economic zone. What’s certain is that Aquino will never have another chance to
meet Hu again in a face-to-face diplomatic encounter.
China is undergoing a top
leadership shakeup in the Communist Party Congress within two months. Hu is
expected to step down next month. His vice president, Xi Jinping, has been out
of sight for more than a week amid rumors of a power struggle in the Politburo.
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