Donald Trump is in Beijing today. Beyond the usual pageantry that accompanies a meeting between leaders of the world’s greatest powers, it is unlikely there will be anything surprising in the final communiqué.
Trump and Xi Jinping are as different from each other as imaginable.
The American leader is volatile, loud and often incoherent. He is chronically inclined to resist getting educated. He is prone to making explosive statements off the cuff. He thinks diplomacy is all about how leaders personally feel about each other.
Xi is always an inscrutable mandarin. He thinks through his every move and almost never telegraphs his punches. He tries his best to personify the collective wisdom of the political class that governs his huge country. He is well-mannered and always tries to speak less than necessary. He understands diplomacy is a lasting enterprise that looks generations ahead.
Before this meeting, Beijing reduced the range of topics open for discussion. Taiwan and Hong Kong are internal matters and will not be discussed at all with the visiting foreigner.
Washington might win some concessions regarding rare earth metals. America cannot revive its military weaponry without immediate access to these metals. Beijing restricted exports of rare earths and will not easily yield without winning concessions.
But to win any concessions on rare earths, Washington might have to yield on restrictions it imposed on China’s access to high-end computer chips. China’s manufacturers have been closing the technology gap anyway.
Most of the trade and technology issues on the table are set-piece issues. The Americans know what exactly they have to yield in order to win concessions. China has the toughest negotiators on the table. Trump, as always, brings a bunch of amateurs in his delegation – including one of his sons who always seems to have an eye out for uncovering business deals on the side.
The really interesting subject of discussions today will be Iran.
Beijing has maintained from the start that the attack on Iran violates international law. On several instances the past few weeks, Chinese leaders have snapped back on visiting foreign dignitaries when they tried to interfere with Beijing’s foreign policy. China, like Russia, strongly reaffirmed their alliance with Iran.
Many analysts believe the most important talking point in Trump’s cue card will be to seek Beijing’s help in concluding the Iran war. Trump wants to pressure Xi into strong-arming Tehran to yield to US demands.
When Washington tried to work Beijing weeks earlier, the Chinese issued a perfunctory statement asking Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz. That is about the most Beijing will do. They value their strategic alliance with Iran and will not impose on them anything that will diminish their honor.
On this point, at least, Trump will return home empty-handed.
Ghost project
Not all ghost projects are made up of rusting substandard steel and cement. At least one is a substandard information system that has been harming the public for years now.
The public funding for the LTO’s Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) is not meager. A total of P8.2 billion has been committed for this project. To date, the project has not been fully delivered – long beyond the defined date of completion.
This project was envisioned to fully integrate all LTO services into a single database and digital platform. That has not happened. The platform is riddled with inefficiencies and many delivery of its component parts have been delayed for years.
A petition was filed with the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the contract awarded to Dermalog and several Filipino joint venture partners – one of which is currently battling the German company in court. Petitioners claim the award was flawed from the start. The Commission on Audit found the project was put up for bidding despite lack of requirements and specifications addressing LTO’s needs.
Several lawmakers questioned the splitting of the original project into two parts in clear violation of Section 65 of the Government Procurement Reform Act. As inquiries into fraudulent flood control projects highlight, splitting projects is a tactic enabling corruption.
The COA’s 2023 audit report on this project reads like a horror story. Delivery deadlines have not been met – some missed by as much as 675 days. Strangely, instead of penalizing the contractor for the delays, the LTO paid the contractor in full and on time. In one instance, LTO paid the contractor for the maintenance of core applications from October 2019 to October 2020 even as the first acceptance of these applications happened only in December 2020.
Thirteen times, the LTO demanded Dermalog turn over the source code for the LTMS. Thirteen times Dermalog refused to comply. Government owns this system but control remains in private hands.
In addition, Dermalog submitted incomplete functionality for key modules of the project. Among these are: the Driver’s Licensing System and the Motor Vehicle Inspection and Registration System.
Because of these defects and other irregularities, COA earlier issued a Suspension Notice covering LTO payments to Dermalog totaling more than P1.27 billion. Of this amount, P800 million is attributed to change request payments. Even as it fails to deliver a fully functioning system and refusing to yield the source code to the project’s rightful owner, Dermalog even charges government for items not covered in the contract.
COA must issue a final ruling on this suspension notice or this anomaly complicates even more.