President Aquino’s Supporters in the USA, as led by Loida Lewis, Et Al, Are Actually Undermining the Philippines’ Strategy in the Spratlys Issue

By Lolo Bobby M. Reyes of Sorsogon City, Philippines, and West Covina, California

Politics is the art of the possible – Otto von Bismarck, a German statesman

O tto von Bismarck might as well have been also talking about “geopolitics,” a term that was not yet in use during his lifetime. Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (1 April 1815–30 July 1898) was a German 19^th-century statesman and a dominant figure in world affairs.

According to most dictionaries and search engines, “geopolitics is a theory within the International Relations and describes the relation between politics and territory and comprises the art and practice of analyzing, proscribing, forecasting and using political power over a given territory. Traditionally, the term has applied primarily to the impact of geography on politics, but its usage has evolved over the past century to encompass wider connotations.”

In the dispute over the Spratlys chain of islands in the South China Sea involving the Philippines, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, Mr. Von Bismarck’s advice should be considered by all parties. Yes, even geopolitics is “the art of the possible.”

The Example of Richard Nixon’s “Ping-pong ‘Shuttle’ Diplomacy”

T he parties to the Spratlys Conflict must also remember the strategy of then-President Richard M. Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. When President Nixon decided to open diplomatic relations with the PRC, he instructed then Secretary Kissinger to conduct the negotiations silently and respectfully with the Chinese leaders – without resorting to threats and demonstrations in front of Chinese diplomatic posts throughout the world. Why? Both President Nixon and Mr. Kissinger knew the importance of the “Concept of Face” among the Chinese people, especially their national leaders.

“There are three concepts that form the concept of ‘Face’ in the Chinese business culture. They are ‘Saving face’, ‘losing face’ and ‘giving face’. These concepts together determine the success of business in China. In the Chinese business world, the companies and individuals carry their business with the concept of face. This is one of the logical bases of business transactions in the Chinese culture.” To read more about the “Chinese Face,” please click on this link: http://www.chinese-symbols.com/chinese-business-culture/importance-of-face-in-chinese-business-culture.html

Mr. Nixon’s strategy succeeded and by establishing friendly ties and cooperation with China, he developed a wedge between the “Bamboo Curtain” and the “Iron Curtain” that was then the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. It was the beginning of the fragmentation of the USSR, the USA’s bitter foe in the Cold War. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

Loida Nicolas-Lewis, Rodel Rodis, et al, do not come close to Henry Kissinger – even as her “partner in crime" (sic), Atty. Rodis, moved heaven and earth to be appointed as the Philippine ambassador to the United States by President Noynoy Aquino, who of course wisely turned him down. As some Filipino-American wags suggested, Mr. Rodis could be sent to Iraq as the Filipino ambassador but without any body armor, helmet, bullet-proof car and bodyguards. Atty. Lewis, who used to own several food-processing plants in the PRC, ought to know better the Chinese way of doing business with the right concept of “Face.”

Gloria Arroyo Caused the Philippines to Lose Face and Respect

T hen-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now the moral midget of the House of Representatives, caused the national leadership of the Philippines “to lose face” before (and ergo, the respect of) the Chinese by her dealings with the PRC that were tainted with corruption scandals. This writer mentioned it in this article, Filipinos Must Hound Gloria Arroyo for the Filipino Drug Mules’ Deaths and Incarceration in China Until She Gives Up her Ill-gotten Wealth

Despite the world-wide petition of, and rallies before some Chinese consulates and embassies by, Overseas-Filipino community leaders and Filipino people, the PRC proceeded with the execution of the three Filipino drug mules. The Chinese leaders, therefore, do not tolerate interference in their domestic affairs.

With due respect to our friend and columnist, Washington, DC-based Atty. Benjamin G. Maynigo and his sound legal analysis of the Spratlys issue from the vantage point of International Law, only a Nixon-style “shuttle diplomacy” may work. To read Atty. Maynigo’s column about the Spratly issue, please go to this link: B (Bully, , Bilateral Pacts, Bodyguard) S (Spratlys, Sino Saber- Bribery rattling, Sling Shot, Sea Law)

This writer and his friends, especially the members of the Media Breakfast Club of Los Angeles, are not the only ones who disapprove the use of public rallies against the Chinese government by Lewis, Lachica, Rodis, et al. There are groups of well-meaning Filipinos in the United States and Australia that have termed the rallies against the Chinese as ill-advised. Please read this article, Alliance-Philippines, MBC in L.A. and Some Fil-Australian Leaders Refuse to Support Today's Planned Rallies Against China Over the Spratly Dispute

In short, President Noynoy Aquino must emulate then-President Richard Nixon. The Filipino leader must find his version of Henry Kissinger.

It is respectfully suggested that the Filipino President should wisely not tap Lewis, Lachica, Rodis, et al, to conduct a Filipino version of the “Ping-pong ‘Shuttle’ Diplomacy.” Why? Because his US-based supporters do not know how to play table or lawn tennis, even if they have the biggest rackets in town. Please read this article about Lewis-led clique and sports: Eric Lachica, Rodel Rodis and Loida Lewis Display on June 30 in L. A. their Rackets Even if They Do Not Play Tennis

(To be continued . . .)