Who will PNoy send to Beijing?

There are two positive things that resulted in the ongoing standoff in the Scarborough Shoal.
One is the decision of President Aquino recall the appointment of family friend Domingo Lee as ambassador to China and two, the raising of the conflicting territorial claims to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea has been accelerated.

With the withdrawal of Lee’s appointment, the next question is, who will Aquino send to fill the long-vacant post in Beijing?

Three names have been mentioned.

The first one is recently-retired Erlinda Basilio. A career foreign service officer, Basilio’s last position was foreign affairs undersecretary for policy under the Aquino administration, a position that she also held under the Arroyo administration. Briefly, while waiting for now Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to assume the position, she served as acting foreign secretary.

Basilio’s calm demeanor masks a certain toughness that is needed in dealing with a bully like China. Basilio is a veteran in diplomatic pressures. She is not easily intimidated.

Another name mentioned is Luis T. Cruz, who is now our ambassador to South Korea.

Also a career officer,Cruz served as consul general in the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou, which he opened in 1997.

Cruz has the gift of “speaking his truth quietly and clearly” which is important in dealing with a pugnacious adversary.

Another name being floated is Chito Sta. Romana, former American Broadcasting Company news bureau in Beijing. He has retired from ABC and is now based in the Philippines.

Sta. Romana’s Philippine-China background is colorful. He was one of the student activists who were visiting China when President Ferdinand Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1971 (declared martial law on Sept. 21, 1972). His twin brother in the Philippines was arrested.

Sta. Romana, who speaks Mandarin, was one of the five (of the 15 students) who stayed in China. They experienced the Mao Tse Tung’s harsh Cultural Revolution as well as the opening of China to the world.

He spent 39 years of his adult life in China and he has been quoted in a newspaper article as saying, ““I understand China more than the Philippines.”

Sta. Romana was one of those tapped by Philip Juico, husband of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Chair Margie Juico, to brief Domingo Lee about China.

Now, if Aquino wants to rattle the bullying China, he may want to send someone who is perceived to be close to Washington DC, former foreign secretary Roberto R. Romulo, son of the late Carlos P. Romulo.

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Not surprising that China, ignored the invitation of the Philippines to bring the issue of conflicting claims over Scarborough Shoal, 124 nautical miles from Zambales, to the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.

China has opted out of the arbitration mechanism when it signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Last year when Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario proposed going to ITLOS to resolve the conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea, the foreign ministry spokesman said, “China always maintains that the South China Sea dispute should be resolved through direct negotiations between directly concerned countries.”

China knows that their so-called historical claims as shown in its nine-dashed line map has no legal basis in international law.

The Philippines has long wanted to bring the issue to ITLOS, the only arena where it has an even chance with the military and economic giant. But it wanted to go through the diplomatic process of bringing it first to the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Last November, in the meeting of ASEAN plus three Asian countries (China, Japan, South Korea) in Bali, Del Rosario proposed the Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation in West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.

The basic principle of ZOPFFC is, there is a need to segregate the disputed area from the non-disputes area. “what is ours is ours, and what is disputed can be shared,” he said.

Asean was cool to the proposal which was understandable because of China’s strong influence on member countries through trade and investments.

The Philippines tried again to include in ZOPFFC in the Asean summit in Pnom Penh early this month but host Cambodia refused to include it in the discussion.

Other Asean countries also snubbed Philippine offer to host a meeting on the discussion of the Code of Conduct in the South China between Asean and China.

After having exhausted the Asean process, it’s now time to bring the issue to the UN, with or without China.