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BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
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THE ASSOCIATION of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit has come and gone, and I was sadly disappointed.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the time to meet the locals. Joko Widodo announced a trip to a local Manila Mosque (and cancelled at the last minute). Vice President Leni Robredo talked about the challenges of globalization and President Rodrigo Duterte serenaded US President Donald Trump.
Although all these things are certainly interesting, they are hardly groundbreaking. The truth is that I expected more out of Trump and Duterte’s meeting and the ASEAN Summit in general, but we have to settle for what we got.
The media grilled Trump about extrajudicial killings, and both Presidents called for the importance of human rights. There were a few interesting comments about combating terrorism and North Korea, but these talking points are to be expected. Boring formalities basically.
ASEAN members also made sure to avoid the important issues of the region, like the South China Sea (SCS).
Despite these non-events, however, one thing still stands out in the entire ASEAN meeting, and that was how Trump and Duterte reaffirmed the alliance between US and the Philippines; and considering the recent spats with China, one can’t help but wonder how this will affect the Duterte administration’s foreign policy.
Unfortunately, we may never know whatever sensitive issues Duterte and Trump talked about, especially with regards to the SCS, China and regional security in general. But that hardly matters. Trump and Duterte certainly seemed to have gotten along during the meeting, and that is ultimately what’s important.
The reason why it’s important is because Trump seems to be pursuing a neo-isolationist foreign policy, and if America is turning inward, one question that we should ask, is how does that affect the Philippines?
One of the clues to this question is the relationship between the leaders of the Philippines and the United States. Both Trump and Duterte are nationalists, or in Trump’s case. In many ways, they are also radically different from their predecessors, and that makes them unpredictable. So if they seem to like each other, we can somewhat conclude that they agree on a lot of things. Of course, what those things are is known only to them and their advisors.
For now, though, it is enough that Duterte and Trump are on good, speaking terms because it means there is room as well as incentives for cooperation, even if policies and interests diverge. If Trump wants to go full-isolationist then his good relationship with Duterte gives us an edge over other countries. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
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