Kilroy, er, Kamala was here  

Depending on which news source you happened to read, US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to visit Palawan anytime between yesterday, November 20, and tomorrow, November 21, as part of her three-day trip to the Philippines. The seeming uncertainty could be in keeping with the American foreign policy strategy of ambiguity. But the when does not really matter. It is the why.

When she visits Palawan, Kamala Harris is to get a briefing on, as well as give a speech about, the South China Sea, where tensions remain over various territorial claims by several countries, most notably China, the main US rival for global leadership, which claims the entire strategic waterway. The US expects the visit to signal its security commitments in the area, as well as to its "long-time ally" the Philippines.

Will China not consider this as another effrontery by the Americans, another blatant provocation following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's fairly recent visit to Taiwan? Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. does not think so. Unlike Taiwan which China considers as a rogue province, Palawan, Marcos says, is part of sovereign Philippine territory over which China has no say over who gets to visit or not.

I do not think so either. Taiwan was different. As a province it jealously claims, even if not effectively controls, China naturally bristled over such a high-profile visit by Pelosi, especially since the United States, if only for show, maintains an official One-China diplomatic policy. To China, the Pelosi visit was more than a nudge in the ribs. It was a poke in the eye. Not as wantonly ready to go to war as Russia, China just let out a roar.

Palawan, on the other hand, is not one that even China has dared claim. So it could not care less who comes and goes to and from the island, not even if the visitor happens to be US Vice President Kamala Harris. In fact, more so if it is "just" Kamala Harris who, despite a higher position, does not have the same political ooomph as the veteran Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese dragon will likely continue napping for the duration of her trip.

Much of Kamala Harris' distinction is mainly circumstantial rather than achieved. She is the first female US vice president, the highest ranking female US government official ever. She is the first African-American and the first Asian-American to hold the second-highest office in the land. Other than these, her credentials are rather spare: California attorney general, and one-term US senator from that state.

Unlike Barack Obama who, despite the circumstance of being the first African-American man to become US president, was pretty well qualified for the job, I think I am not alone in saying Kamala Harris could have been elected just for the distinction of "firsts" that I have enumerated. You know, just so the matter of race and gender which have so divided and rankled America can be put to rest.

You see, the office alone does not for credibility speak. The office holder, more often than not, weighs as much or even more than the office itself. I doubt very much if Kamala Harris can generate as much attention, good or bad, as Nancy Pelosi did if she drops in on Taiwan after Palawan. So just as China may not give Kamala Harris the full intensity of its angst, neither may the Philippines take to deepest heart what her visit means.

Without the decibels, what Kamala Harris can settle for are what the journalists call the optics. Therefore, as a footnote to her visit, it might do well to just meme it as "Kamala was here." But then again, I doubt if it would be as endearing and enduring as "Kilroy was here." That World War II graffito and its accompanying doodle carried a message far more universal, even if Kilroy only visited toilets.