Spokespersons: Need a diplomatic primer

It is now the flavor of the week to hit the President on his “inaction” on the Taiwan incident. I leave that to the many who have chosen to focus on that path.  For me it is back to basics as stated in Diplomacy101. The biggest threat to the deterioration of bilateral relations can be directly related to those minions in Malacañan who claim to speak on behalf of the President. These people should always remember that their “quotes” are immediately picked up by the foreign press as gospel truth. They are the front line of diplomacy. As the saying goes: if you feed the beast with misleading statements, it will be magnified by an antagonistic press.

If you watch international news on CNN or BBC, you can observe the spokesmen of foreign governments responding to the press and making pronouncements. What is clearly discernible is the professional, inscrutable discussion/responses devoid of emotion and facial expression. Moreover, they have obviously checked their facts before making any statement. If they don’t have the facts, they so inform them and will revert after checking the facts. These spokespersons should watch TV to learn how to be professional.

Regrettably, Palace spokespersons often make statements on matters affecting relations with another state without consulting people on the ground who are more aware of the political and cultural nuances and context. Carefully crafted statements can easily be undone by flippant sometimes ignorant remarks. Facial gestures such as smirking can often be misinterpreted.

In the case at hand, it has been reported that the spokesperson in question was quoted as saying, “no apology is forthcoming” when in fact the President eventually sent his apology through the MECO chairman. Moreover, the same individual has stated that the President will not send another emissary to Taipei. That was unauthorized and presumptuous to have speculated as such without explicit permission from the President.

In another instance, I understand that the MECO resident representative in Taipei was quoted as committing to a joint probe. As a result, it understandably caused a furor in Manila. Instead of checking with MECO, the spokesperson left it to the media to speculate. In actuality, the Taiwan Ministry of Justice said that what they meant was not a joint probe but a cooperative or parallel investigation. During the hostage crisis I also remember instances when the spokespersons spoke out of turn. There is an expression which is quite appropriate: “Shape up or ship out.” I would suggest that many would express delight with such a departure.   

I have always maintained that the Palace urgently needs a knowledgeable senior diplomat seconded to the Press Office.