FRESH from his first state visit to People’s Republic of China, President Benigno Aquino III is set to embark on two more state visits this month.
The outcome of Aquino’s China trip has exceeded expectations. The President’s first state visit to the People’s Republic of China was a success, bringing home billions worth of investment in the country.
In his visit, where he took part in 36 meetings, Aquino brought home with him about $13 billion worth of actual and possible investments of Chinese businessmen to the Philippines. The successful rendezvous gained about $1.28 billion in fresh investments that will come in, $3.8 billion in almost sure investments and $7.9 billion more in potential investments from companies that expressed interest in investing in the country.
Aquino and Chinese President Hu Jintao both expressed a positive assessment of the China-Philippines relations. The two leaders reiterated their commitment to pursue a long-term and stable relationship of strategic cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
Despite doubts in the outcome of his visit to China, President Aquino’s recent success was able to shift the media focus from tensions to cooperation between the two countries.
Moreover, Aquino will visit Washington and New York later this month, upon the invitation of President Barack Obama for the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The new multilateral initiative aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, fight corruption, empower citizens, and utilize new technologies to make governments accountable and effective.
Japan will be the next stop in Aquino’s itinerary for his overseas visits.
After beginning his term as president last year, Aquino has promised to keep his travel expenses down because of the issues hurled at his predecessor – for using billions of taxpayers’ money for costly trips abroad.
The administration is cautious in portraying the visits as opportunities for dialogue and discussion, without promoting expectations that any dramatic breakthroughs would be achieved.
With limited experience in foreign policy and traveling overseas, and an apparent preference for concentrating on domestic issues, Aquino has still been thriving with his official trips abroad.
The history of state visits goes back several hundred years. These formal visits are important part of international diplomacy – to reinforce excellent relations, and intensify cooperation and exchanges between economies.
There will never be a lack of subjects that need to be addressed between governments. Issues to be discussed such as economic balancing, security challenges and maritime cooperation, (of bilateral and global importance) should constantly be looked upon. Maintaining peace and stability is always a priority so that each country can focus on their own domestic issues.
State visits between important countries should be seen as an opportunity, not just to the attendees but to each leader’s constituents as well. Even when the gaps between the countries are very large, as between the Philippines and China, scheduling a meeting between two heads of the state urges leaders and bureaucracies of the countries to highlight and seek beneficial outcomes, and prevent friction.
While Aquino’s state visits are yielding positive results, perhaps the trickier part of the process is making the outcome survive, years after the summit.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Sept 7-9, 2011 Sec A pg. 6)
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