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"What Is to Be Done? Resolving Maritime Disputes in Southeast Asia" A roundtable forum organized by the Angara Centre for Law and Economics 5 December 2013 | Marriott Hotel, Resorts World Manila | Hon. Edgardo J. Angara Keynote Speaker Former Senate President, Republic of the Philippines and President of the University of the Philippines

The Golden Root Let me begin by sharing the story how sweet potato or kamote was introduced to China. I was told this story when visiting the then Overseas Chinese University in Fujian province, many years ago.

In 1594, Fujian province on the southeast coast of mainland Chinafrom where 90 percent of Chinese migrants to the Philippines camewas struck by a crippling famine due to a massive crop failure.

A Chinese trader named Zhenlong Chen had brought in kamote from Luzon into Fujian and presented it to the governor of Fujian.i

Seeing that the plant was easy to grow and a highyielding food source, the governor got the farmers planting kamote, eventually putting an end to the famine. Kamote was later named jinshu (jeen-shu) or golden root because of how it saved thousands of lives in Fujian. iiiiiiv

The story of the kamote is a tale of neighborly assistance and humanitarian act Filipinos extended to Chinese people. And it tells as well how deep-rooted in history, relations between the two peoples are.

Contacts between China and the Philippines started as early as 972 AD, during the Song Dynasty, shown by Chinese porcelain and pottery found on Philippine shores. Othersv claim that contact came even earlier, during the Tang Dynasty.

The first migration of ethnic Chinese to the Philippine archipelago, however, occurred during the Ming Dynasty (1368 1644), coinciding with the arrival of the Spaniards.vi

Indeed, the history of Chinese migration to the Philippines is the longest in the region, owing to the fact that the Philippines is among the oldest trading partners of China, via an east ocean (Pacific) route called Dong yang lu.

The seafarers using this route were mainly from Fujian province. That explains why up to 90 percent of ethnic Chinese migrants to the Philippines are Fujianese (Minnan People), with up to 65 percent of them coming from Jinjian City.

In 2005, the ethnic Chinese numbered up to 1,146,250, or 1.6 percent of the Philippine populationvii. Chinese blood was said to make up 10 percent of the Filipinos racial composition.viii If projected to presentday numbers, this is equal to nearly 10 million Filipinos. But with continuous intermarriage and integration, this number would surely be much higher.

By some estimates, Filipino-Chinese probably comprise 15 to 20% of the Philippine populationone out of 5 Filipinos todayix. Manila was home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese among major cities in Southeast Asia. x

Owing to the hospitable and welcoming nature of Filipinos, the Chinese were easily integrated and assimilated into Philippine mainstream society, in contrast with other Southeast Asian countries, where bitter race conflicts occurredxi.

Escalating Tensions Fast forward to November 23, 2013: China announced the establishment of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, which includes a group of islets controlled by Japan but claimed by China.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida swiftly called the move a one-sided action that cannot be allowed, warning it could trigger unpredictable events.

The United States responded strongly, launching two B-52 bombers over the area with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel describing Chinas action as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop weighed in, reiterating Australias stance against any unilateral action to change the status quo in the East China Sea.

Other countries voiced similar alarm including Taiwan, the UK and South Korea.

Our own foreign secretary, Albert del Rosario, described the Chinese move as an infringement which compromises the safety of civil aviation.

Foreseeing a potential China ADIZ over the West Philippine Sea, del Rosario said the deployment of the Liaoning, Chinas one aircraft carrier, to the West Philippine Sea added to regional instability. What Secretary del Rosario was merely foreseeing a week ago may soon become a fact. For Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing (Ku-ching) stated categorically two days ago-- -- - --thats in the worksxii.

This series of events heightens the tensions over disputed islets surrounded by waters rich in fisheries, minerals and gas deposits.

Some

analysts

say

though,

behind

Chinas

aggressive assertion of its sovereignty is the larger goal of wresting and wielding the dominant influence over a vast and vital region.xiii

This grand aspiration has just been recently articulated by the new Chinese leader. President Xi Jinping urged his fellow Chinesein a speech delivered at a highly symbolic venue, Tiananmen Squareto help realize a Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. He said that achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest Chinese dream in modern times.

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This pronouncement appears but a continuation of the overriding desire for national glory behind Chinese thinkers and leaders for nearly two centuries.xiv

The Chinese term fuqiang (foo-shiang), meaning wealth and power, best describes the guiding idea behind the people who have led China since the early nineteenth century.xv

But should Chinas quest for national gloryfor wealth and poweralienate its neighbors and spark tension throughout the region? A virtual return to the Cold War of the past?

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From one Filipino perspective, the answer is definitely no. In fact, I am surprised and sometimes shocked by the blatant display of force, ignoring age-old shared historic cultural and economic relations.

My personal feelings notwithstanding, we have chosen to launch this forum to promote and encourage reasoned discussions of this critical question, with the hope that new avenues may be explored and alternative solutions propounded.

Filial, cultural and business ties between the two nations represent points of convergence that can hopefully help create new cooperative mechanisms to lower tensions and create a conducive climate for finding solutions.

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Parenthetically, when this roundtable forum was conceived and organized more than a year ago, little did we anticipate the wide scope and depth the question would suddenly take on. We intended to focus our concern on our own neighborhoodSoutheast Asia. We now realize that limited focus is mistaken. It must inevitably include East Asia, encompassing a crucial maritime route through which 50 percent of global oil tanker tonnage (around 10 million barrels a day)xvi and one-third of the worlds shipping linesxvii (enabling US$5.3 trillion worth of trade a yearxviii) pass.

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We are quite fortunate to have with us today a select group of experts from the Philippines, China, Japan, Singapore, and the United States who will discuss a variety of approaches and ideas that can serve as starting points for policymakers and information items for the public.

Our aim, to repeat, is to assess the issue from a fairly objective standpoint and contribute to finding alternative approaches and solutions to the questions, as well as possible policy recommendations. We hope this will shape the debate and enable informed

policymaking from all sides, on this game-changing question.

Thank you.

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Notes
i

With research support from Meah Ang-See of the Bahay-Tsinoy Museum, Intramuros. (c/o Mikey Abola)

ii L. Zhang, Q. Wang, Q. Lin and Q. Wang. The Sweetpotato in China. Chapter 1 in The Sweetpotato as edited by Loebenstein, G. and G. Thottapilly. Springer: USA. 2009. http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=5Wu4sqzOD8C&pg=PA325&lpg=PA325&dq=fujian+famine+philippines&source=bl&ots=cNseILocyA&sig=1xiGLP2qJctYgBj PXc5D1fSBdng&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ziCYUpjgA-eriAfNx4CICA&ved=0CE4Q6AEwAg#v=snippet&q=fujian&f=false accessed on November 29, 13. iii

http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4547/a2.htm

A variation of the story has the governor of Fujian sending an expedition to the Philippines in search of a life-saving crop. The expedition returned with their stores full of sweet potatoes. http://www.outpostmagazine.com/2013/11/14/root-all-pleasure/
v

iv

Based on Wilhelm Solheims Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network hypothesis From former Dean Mario Miclat of the UP Asian Center

vi

Overseas Community Affairs Council, R.O.C. (Taiwan). 2005. The Ranking of Ethnic Chinese Population. http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno=1163&no=1163&level=B [Accessed on December 3, 13]. Ang-See, Teresita. The Chinese in Philippine Life: Influences and Impact in Ang-See (ed.) 1990. Chinese in the Philippines: Problems & Perspectives. Volume I. Manila: Kaisa Foundation. Collas-Monsod, Solita. 2012. Ethnic Chinese Dominate PH Economy. in Philippine Daily Inquirer. June 22, 2012. http://opinion.inquirer.net/31223/ethnic-chinese-dominate-ph-economy [accessed on December 3, 13].
x Ang-See,Teresita. The Ethnic Chinese Community in the Philippines and Its Unique Position in Southeast Asia in Ang-See (ed.) 2004. Chinese in the Philippines: Problems & Perspectives. Volume III. Manila: Kaisa Foundation. xi ix viii

vii

See i.

China eyes air defense zone in West Philippine Sea, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 4, 2013 http://globalnation.inquirer.net/93007/envoy-says-china-has-right-to-set-another-air-zone [accessed on December 4, 13]. Sanger, David E. 2013. In dispute over islands, real goal may be influence. In the International New York Times, Tuesday, December 3, 2013. Ian Johnson, Dreams of a Different China in The New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/nov/21/dreams-different-china/ accessed on November 29, 2013 Schell, Orville and John Delury. 2013. Wealth and Power: Chinas Long March to the Twenty-First Century. New York: Random House.
xvi xv xiv xiii

xii

http://www.cfr.org/china/south-china-sea-tensions/p29790 http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/9755825

xvii

xviii Glaser, Bonnie. "Armed Clash in the South China Sea." Apr 2012. Council on Foreign Relations. Dec 2013.

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