An intended missed opportunity?

The planned meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Hu Jintao at the APEC meeting in Vladivostok, Russia will not push through, citing a lack of time for the two leaders to meet. On the run-up to this meeting, everyone was hopeful that the two leaders, currently involved in a territorial dispute over several islands in the West Philippine Sea, would finally meet face to face and maybe thresh out some differences that would lead to win-win situation for everyone. There are occasions where meeting face to face helps in settling differences, rather than issuing press releases and internet news tidbits. Some leaders are actually influenced more by the people around him, than his own ideas and opinions.

But one cannot help but think that the Chinese President really did not want to meet President Aquino, for that very reason. Being in an international meeting with the whole of ASEAN and the US being present, China may be placed in a situation where it does not want to be in, or worse, told that what it is doing is outright wrong. America has been more vocal about the freedom of trade and shipping routes in the West Philippine Sea, saying that they are actually sending more than half of its fleet to the region to make sure those trade routes are safe and free.

China has vowed to do its part in maintaining those trade routes, but has not backed away from its claim on all the islands in the area! And China is known for saying one thing and doing another. Its militarization of one of islands is not helping to ease the tension simmering on the West Philippine Sea!

Hence we are back to where we stalemated. China has since sent many more ships into the areas in question, not loosening its grip on these sometimes temporary specks of land. And while we try and beef up our military might, if you can call it that compared to what China has, China has expanded its structures on the islands they already occupy. It won’t be long before we see whole cities on these islands, with all the exploration rigs searching the ocean floor for all those supposed untapped resources of oil and gas, the very things we were fighting over to begin with!

This is such a missed opportunity, intended or not! I was hoping to see a photograph of the two leaders, gripping and grinning for the world to see, and hopefully engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue regarding the sticky issues at hand. Instead, we go back to “gunboat diplomacy” and internet banter. How long all countries involved can peacefully keep this up is anyone’s guess.