'Fast plane to China'

President Noynoy Aquino is leaving this afternoon for a five-day state visit to China accompanied by a delegation of 300 composed mostly of top businessmen, Cabinet officials and staff assistants. As DTI USec and BOI Chairman Tito Panlilio pointed out, this is the first major business delegation organized by the president himself – which makes it very significant. This official trip will also be the first real test on how P-Noy’s administration conducts itself and its relationship with a very important country like China. As expected, a number of glitches in the preparations especially in the days leading to the departure were experienced like security arrangements, documentation, baggage tags and other last minute schedules. But then again, this is understandable considering the huge task of coordinating the activities of 300 people over five days in three cities.

A PAL Boeing 777 and an AirAsia Airbus A320 will ferry P-Noy’s contingent, with Philippines Inc. chairman Tonyboy Cojuangco using the A320 of AirAsia (of which he is also the chairman) – a brand new aircraft straight from Toulouse, France – on its inaugural trip, so to speak. Philippines Inc. has been designated as the lead business group for this visit.

The People’s Republic of China was the first nation to invite President Noynoy for a state visit, but most of the discussion and activities will be centered on bilateral trade relations and investments especially with the breakout sessions on various industries. The big guns of Philippine business are included in P-Noy’s contingent which is why the level of expectation is very high, with $60-billion worth of investments being eyed within the next five years.

 Aside from Tonyboy Cojuangco, named co-business delegate heads are Tessie Sy-Coson, Ramon Ang, Manny V. Pangilinan, Tony Tan Caktiong, John Gokongwei, Washington Sycip, Lucio Tan, Andrew Tan, Monchu Aboitiz, Carlos Chan, John Tan, George Ty, Titoy Pardo and Fred Yao. This visit is just the beginning of renewed relations between the two countries, and many businessmen agree this is the right track notwithstanding the Spratlys issue, the botched ZTE-NBN deal and the graft-ridden Northrail project. In any event, it will be impossible to find an instant solution to the Spratlys issue on this trip alone. Nonetheless, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Chinese Ambassador Liu are encouraged by the big business delegation. We need to show our friends from China, the country largely driving the economy in Asia – that we want to do serious business with them.  

Economists predict China’s global domination by 2021, and a report by the Pew Research Center says 15 of 22 nations believe China will replace the US as the world’s leading superpower. No wonder the Pentagon is very much concerned, saying China’s military buildup could prove “destabilizing.” The US Defense Department notes China is bent on achieving “economic and military benchmarks” in a bid to become a “world-class economic and military power by 2050.”

Huawei to call on P-Noy

One of those expected to call on President Noy in Shanghai is the head of technology giant Huawei Technologies whose 2010 revenues topped $28 billion. Huawei has been growing by leaps and bounds, becoming the second largest supplier of mobile telecommunications equipment and posing a very serious challenge to Cisco and Microsoft. Sources told us Huawei is very interested in the Philippines and is exploring the possibility of supplying (on a turn-key basis) the telecommunication and infrastructure requirements of a telecoms firm for its nationwide build-up plans.

Pinoy spine surgeon in the US

Dr. Rolando Mendoza has been making a name as one of the elite group of spine surgeons at the Norton Leatherman Spine Clinic in Louisville, Kentucky whose patients come all the way from South America, Asia and Europe. Aside from orthopedic surgery, Dr. Mendoza’s expertise includes spinal fractures and cervical disk herniation or spondylosis, the condition that necessitated three surgeries for FPGMA. People who know Dr. Mendoza say he should have been consulted from the beginning for a rather risky procedure. There are many cases with unsuccessful first operations like what happened to Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario 10 years ago when he went through an excruciatingly painful operation on his legs that turned out to be unsuccessful, so he had the procedure redone in Texas. The best doctors come from the Philippines but unfortunately, most are based in the US like renowned heart surgeon Dr. Jorge Garcia.

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