Tit for tat

Despite enough lead-time for the usual after-office rush hour traffic, I still came late at the reception for the 65th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China held Monday night at the Makati Shangri-La. Newly installed ambassador of China, Zhao Jianhua, and the rest of his staff and officials at the Chinese Embassy in Manila were in full force to celebrate this important event in their country’s history with Filipinos from government officials to private sector leaders and members of the diplomatic community.

Acting Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Laura Q. del Rosario represented the Philippine government in the reception. She stood for DFA Secretary Alberto del Rosario who joined the official trip to Europe and the United States last week of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III. The DFA Secretary was left behind in New York to attend the annual meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

As DFA Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, Undersecretary Del Rosario is the most senior deputy at the department. There were other incumbent and former Philippine government officials at the reception like presidential adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas (who arrived much later than I), Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, ex-House Speaker Jose de Venecia, several Filipino-Chinese taipans among them.

But whatever I missed in the speeches and traditional toasts during such diplomatic functions were more than sufficiently made up by those who came to the affair much earlier. While making my way through the reception line, at least four ambassadors who I bumped into had one thing to ask me: “Did you hear the ambassador’s speech?”

“No,” I admitted. Offering no excuse, I frankly told them I came late and missed the speeches. All four ambassadors were one in taking notice the Chinese ambassador did not mention President Aquino in his speech nor offered a traditional toast for the “good health” of the leaders of both nations.

At the end of his speech, ambassador Zhao, who was in his usual Chinese national dress for men, raised his glass and offered this greeting to acting Secretary Del Rosario standing beside him on stage:

“To conclude, may I propose a toast:

To the prosperity and happiness of our two peoples,

To the friendship and cooperation between China and the Philippines,

To the health of all the guests,

Cheers!”

Was it a deliberate slip, or plain faux pas? We do not know.

But it was enough to stir the diplomats present at the occasion. Protocol dictates, as every ambassador is taught and trained in diplomacy, cocktail toast requires such traditional greetings to the leader of the host nation to mark the event of the country’s national day.

Of course, ambassadors don’t want to be quoted to maintain amity and friendship within their diplomatic circle here. But they were aghast at the seeming snub done by the Chinese ambassador’s toast and non-mention of President Aquino.

The speech of the ambassador was something else. For the diplomats in attendance to join the Chinese people in the celebration of their national day, the ambassador’s speech was not proper for the occasion. They noted that substantive issues causing irritants between the Philippines and China should not have been the subject matter.

At the outset, the ambassador reiterated the assurance of Beijing that they pose no “threat” to other countries. “I would like to take the opportunity to make it clear that China will be firmly committed to the path of peaceful development,” Zhao stated.

Zhao echoed China “does not approve of exaggerating and still less sensationalizing the so-called tension in the South China Sea.”

In great length, ambassador Zhao talked about the overlapping territorial dispute of China with the Philippines and similar claims by several other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He insisted Beijing’s tack on South China Sea dispute must be resolved on bilateral basis, or what it calls a “dual-track” approach.

China has frowned on the Aquino administration’s decision that brought the West Philippine Sea claims on the disputed areas in South China Sea before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Now pending before arbitration court, Beijing has refused to participate in the proceedings even if it is a signatory to this United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that provided this forum for dispute settlement.

Doing away with her prepared speech for the occasion, Undersecretary Del Rosario extemporized with her response to such stinging remarks from the host of the reception. Paraphrasing her, she defended the Philippine initiative to ITLOS: ”We approached a third party to seek clarity in order to save a friendship.”

She went on to trace the bilateral ties of the two countries dating as far back as 450 years ago when the Philippines was the hub of the Acapulco galleon trade when Chinese goods passed through Manila for transport to Latin-America and Europe. Fortunately, Undersecretary Del Rosario’s more than three decades in diplomacy thawed the icy Philippine-China ties that night with her “toast of good health” for both Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and to President Xi Jinping

During our recently concluded Philippine media familiarization tour of the Southwestern China Economic and Cultural program — organized by the Chinese Embassy in Manila — it was impressed upon us Beijing won’t abide by any final judgment by ITLOS expected to come out in early 2016.

In fact, Beijing’s policy advisers on South China Sea matters have prepared the minds of their central government leaders to wait for more conducive environment to resolve the irritants of its bilateral relations with the Philippines. Beijing expects better relations perhaps with the next administration after President Aquino’s term ends in June 2016.

Well, I guess the feeling was mutual. Perhaps, ambassador Zhao is still smarting from the long wait he went through before President Aquino officially recognized him. It was only last April when Malacañang accepted his credentials after he first arrived in Manila in February this year to take over the post from former ambassador Ma Keqing.

On a personal basis, perhaps it was ambassador Zhao’s tit for tat with P-Noy.