Update:Brady confirmed
Malacañang has announced the appointment of a China old hand, Sonia Brady, as ambassador to China which was made possible by the withdrawal of businessman Domingo Lee, whose primary qualification was a friend of the President’s parents.
Sen. Serge Osmeña, a member of the Commission on Appointments, had raised questions about Lee’s competence for the important position. Lee has been given the title of special envoy to China for tourism affairs. A perfect position for him while he sports the title “ambassador.”
Another Fil-Chinese businessman, Cesar Zalamea, has also been named special envoy for trade affairs.
Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President wanted “someone who is already familiar with the politics and culture of that country. That person can hit the ground running.”
Brady is perfect for that position and she should be in command of the Beijing post once her nomination is confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.
This is Brady’s third posting in Beijing. Midway in her diplomatic career, she was assigned in Beijing as consul from 1976 to 1978.
She capped her career service as ambassador to China from 2006 to 2010. Those were the years when China felt close to the Philippines with Gloria Arroyo almost surrendering Philippine sovereignty to China on disputed areas in the South China Sea.
In exchange for huge, scandal-tainted loans, the Arroyo government entered into a Joint Marine Seismic Survey Undertaking in 2004 with China, and later on Vietnam in a large portion of South China Sea, which is being claimed in parts by six countries and wholly by China.
The problem was, JMSU’s coverage included 24,000 square kilometers of undisputed Philippine territory. Six of the islands being claimed by Philippines and China were also covered by the JMSU.
The survey has been completed but has not moved on to joint development.
Brady returns to Beijing, as a political appointee, under a somewhat strained relations with China precipitated by the the arrest by the Philippine Navy of eight Chinese fishing boats last April 9 in Scarborough, also known as Panatag shoal. The incident had led to a standoff between the Philippine Coast Guard and Chinese surveillance ships with the former outnumbered by the latter.
At this challenging phase of Philippine-China relations, with Brady in Beijing, the nation is assured that the conduct of affairs with the world’s economic giant is in competent hands.
Ang tanong ko dahil siya na ay matitigil na ba ang pakikialam ng bansang China para sa Spratly…
“In exchange for huge, scandal-tainted loans, the Arroyo government entered into a Joint Marine Seismic Survey Undertaking in 2004 with China, and later on Vietnam in a large portion of South China Sea, which is being claimed in parts by six countries and wholly by China.”
This was the subject of a report I read from a French think tank group presided by a retired French admiral. The conclusion is that the Spratly will possibly be the next flashpoint.
The report contained many of the discussions that the French had with members of the PLA, China pulitburo and Chinese academe and highlighted by the think tank group because the Chinese had issued veiled threats even vis a vis the US.
France is officially very concerned by China’s aggressive position.
Good luck Madame l’Ambassador. You will need to dig into your professional reserve and the wealth of your experience to turn Gloria Macapagal’s excecrable deeds around to the advantage of the Philippines.
The French once captured the Paracel Islands at a time when Japan and China were at war just before WWII. In WWII, Japan successfully grabbed the Paracels from the French.
Again, at the start of this standoff of nearly 2 months, a French scientist who sought permission from Manila to conduct research and experiments in the area was “harassed” by Chinese vessels.
“Kahit magsama-sama na kayo, lalaban kami” seems to be the posture China is portraying in order to assert its ridiculous claim over the whole West Philippine Sea.
Hotheaded warmongers in the Phils. and in China fail to grasp that this is not Phils. vs China. Last year, a top level inspection of the area was conducted by Americans, which included Sen. John McCain. This year, a Russian carrier made a port call in Manila Bay, the first in almost a century.
The US and Phils staged joint naval exercises in Cavite and Palawan.
2 weeks ago, a US nuclear sub visited its former home base in Subic. Later,
we will be receiving ships, whether visiting or donated, from Korea, then Australia will follow suit.
Even the US is slowing down on its total pullout from Okinawa to move to a huge base under construction in Guam. They are rethinking their transfer plan because of China’s continuing aggressiveness.
Japan too, Tongue.
Seems media baron Tsuneo Watanabe has influenced the government into donating 10 ships and more to PH as part of its ODA. A couple of ships pa will be given as grant. His Yomiuri Shimbun in its editorial made strong calls for Japan to support PH.
One of Watanabe’s friends, Nobuteru Ishihara, the #2 man in LDP, lived with the Aquinos in Boston when he was studying in Harvard. Pays to have friends.
patambayin na muna kaya ng America yong Kitty Hawk sa Subic port I think naka base lang yon sa Okinawa. Siguro mapipikon lalo ang mga tsekwa.
akala ko si vice ganda ‘yung kasama sa itaas ng tsekwang presidente.
will amba brady’s posting in china cools down tension between two countries?
she’s been posted in beijing since 1976, would she enlighten chinese government THAT their claim over parts of Philippine territories were baseless and only fruits of greed of a president who corrupted the system being first a grabber then next a cheater?
that those they claim theirs are visibly within and inside our eco-zone?
Tongue, you are right. This is not exactly China v Pinas. This is China flexing its muscles because it is battling the US by proxy.
China has been ‘stand offish’ vis-à-vis Taiwan but not towards Pinas. Reason is the US was more than categorical that it would defend Taiwan, i.e., fight it out militarily, against attacks whereas Pinas has not received the same unequivocal, categorical, straightforward statement of support from Washington.
Have just ran into an editorial by China Daily.com. Read between the lines (China is aware that the US has not categoricall thrown its support behind Pinas and this, despite treaty.)
“But although the Philippines has been trying to use the ambiguity of the treaty to satisfy its wishful thinking that the treaty applies to the South China Sea, the US has never given a clear response, nor any substantial commitment to the Philippines over the South China Sea issue. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have stressed the US is not taking sides in the dispute, although they have assured the Philippines the US will honor the 1951 mutual defense treaty.”
Mon, May 28, 2012
Some people watching this stand-off opera could very well be emboldened to think that “US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have stressed the US is not taking sides in the dispute,” but the truth is as ever, the US has oftentimes acted this way not because they would not provide needed support, eg., in materiel, intel, etc., but because that’s how things are often done in Foggy Bottom.
Take for example the case of the Falklands War during the Reagan-Thatcher era. Just before the hostilities began, Reagan went as far as to “scold” Thatcher publicly and to tell Britain to find a diplomatic solution to the UK-Argentina problem. Yet, but behind the scenes, the US was helping the UK and offering intel that was essential in the conduct of warfare to begin. Not only that, the US gave its blessings to Thatcher without which, believe it or not, Thatcher would not have moved to send the UK fleet to the Falklands.
Recently, in the face of Argentina president’s bellicose pronouncements over the Falklands, Hillary Clinton made a similar public pronouncement during her visit to South America and was even less supportive of the UK, i.e., that the US is telling the UK to seek a diplomatic solution to the problem. The US cannot very well say it was backing the UK through and through publicly. It would be counter-productive to the US and counterproductive to their major ally, Britain.
The problem is Pinas is taking the lead in telling China that it will have US backing because of the treaty which may or may not be embarassing Dept of State officials. I don’t know if it’s the right tack, i.e., to be seen as desperately as trying to get US support but one thing for sure, China will continue to bamboozle the Philippines and no amount of diplomacy from our DFA will satiate them short of our surrendering Scarborough Shoal.
Philippines must stop running amok |Op-Ed Contributors |chinadaily.com.cn
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn
A tale of three women
By Alejandro del Rosario
http://opinion.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/05/30/a-tale-of-three-women/
The first woman is Ambassador Sonia Brady who has been drawn out of retirement to provide the “old China hand” card to deal with the Mandarins in Beijing. She was our ambassador to Beijing from 2006 to 2010.
The second femme fatale (only to men who can’t stand up to the diplomatic skills of these women) is Ambassador Fu Ying who was Chinese ambassador to the Philippines from 1998 to 2000. Madame Fu Ying is presently China’s Vice Foreign Minister with whom our Ambassador Brady would have to counteract on the sensitive issue of the South China Sea, and the flashpoint in the Scarborough Shoal
Ambassador Brady, before her assignment as envoy to Beijing, was also the DFA’s undersecretary for policy, the counterpart of Fu Ying’s vice foreign minister rank.
The third, but not least of these three women deeply involved in the high-stakes game of global poker, is US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She recently incurred Chinese ire with her statement that China has “exceeded her claims beyond the maritime limits provided in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”