U.S. & Philippines – Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

             by David Parmer/Tokyo

In the US, when a couple in high school or college is about to break up, one partner often says, “I think we need to start seeing other people.” And this is what Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is metaphorically saying to America. Duterte says no more steady dating; he is going to play the field with China and Russia. In China he told his hosts, “America has lost.” And he then announced his separation from the US.

Well, both countries have been together for a long time, and in any relationship there are long-standing grievances on both sides. The US was pretty much in the driver’s seat from 1899 to 1942, and the Philippines was a virtual colony of Uncle Sam. The way that the US got there was to kick out another colonial power, Spain.

While many Filipinos have a warm regard for the US, favor English as their second language and have family or relatives in the States, Mr. Duterte is not one of them. The memory of US involvement in the Philippines past and present rankles with him, making him sensitive to any criticism of his policies. This became apparent in his very strong emotional reaction to recent US and EU criticism of his of War on Drugs.

The US and the Philippines are intertwined in matters of defense with the Philippines getting logistic support, training, weapons and intelligence from the US. Realistically, it would be extremely difficult (but not impossible) to change to all Chinese or Russian systems and doctrine. Moreover, the president has said that a recent joint military exercise will be the last, and that in maybe two years the US will be asked to leave.

And about the breakup: Duterte said that he only meant that this applies in areas of foreign policy. The US continues to stress that relations with the Philippines are good and the countries have a long and warm relationship and that the US has not received any official notice of a change in relations. So what will happen remains to be seen. The real question is whether Mr. Duterte’s policy is in the Philippines long-term interest and whether his actions will add more tensions and uncertainty to the situation around the choppy waters of the South China Sea.

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Photo: U.S. Dept. of State via flickr