“Ambassador Huang said that China’s main concern is restoring peace and order, and the safety of all those in Hong Kong, including Filipinos.

I must admit — my ideal image of a diplomat from China has to be Zhao Jianhua, the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines from 2014 to 2019, perhaps the most unpredictable and exciting years in Philippines and China relations.

The tides that these years brought were tumultuous and rocky, but led to the strong ties that we have today.

Ambassador Zhao carried everything with such ease, having calm demeanor, forever smiling, his signature Chinese traditional clothes always at tip-top shape.

Despite his towering presence, you will never feel intimidated around Ambassador Zhao, who steered the diplomatic ship away from the dangerous waves and to the calmest shores.

That’s why it came as a surprise to me that Ambassador Zhao’s tenure in the Philippines was not extended, although I am admittedly unaware of Chinese foreign policy with their diplomatic officials. But whatever the reason, I thought that Ambassador Zhao should have been granted an exception and allowed to stay until the end of this Administration. This was my thinking until I met the new Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Huang Xilian.

Ambassador Huang arrived on 2 December and he has not rested since. His blitzkrieg meetings have brought him to the offices of all the key government officials.

He has met with President Rodrigo Duterte, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and a number of Cabinet Secretaries. At this rate, he should be done meeting the entire top-level government officials by Christmas Day.

A seasoned diplomat, Ambassador Huang is an expert in ASEAN affairs, having been previously deployed as China’s envoy to the ASEAN in Jakarta, Indonesia.

He previously served in India, Brunei, the USA and Pakistan.

And at Monday’s Christmas Party of the Chinese Embassy for the Media, I saw that Ambassador Huang has all the tools to bring the diplomatic relations of Philippines and China to a higher level, especially in 2020 — the 45th year from the establishment of China-Philippines relations.

In his welcoming remarks, Ambassador Huang highlighted the figures to show the strong relations our two countries have been enjoying.

China is a top trading partner of the Philippines with the bilateral trade volume reaching $49.8 billion at year-on-year growth of 7.2 percent. Bananas were of special mention, with more than 1.1 million tons of bananas exported to China within the first three quarters of 2019, amounting to $493 million. Chinese tourists in the Philippines spiked to 1.5 million as of October 2019, a huge increase from the previous years.

China’s unwavering support to the Administration’s “Build, Build, Build” Program was mentioned, with the projects and numbers to prove it. China has provided funds for the Chico River Pump Irrigation, New Centennial Water Source — Kaliwa Dam, and the Philippine National Railway’s South Long Haul Commuter Rail, not to mention the total of 10 projects already completed.

A total of $398 million in grants and $500 million soft loans have been given, with a promise of around $421 million more in grants.

Incidentally, 20 December will also be the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Macau’s return to China.

Ambassador Huang took this opportunity to remind everyone on how the “One Country, Two Systems” policy can work, with Macau reaping the benefits of its good relations with its mother country, China.

Ambassador Huang then bit the bullet, and went straight to discussing the situation in Hong Kong, something rather controversial, yet important to the hearts of Filipinos with the estimated 230,000 overseas Filipinos workers there.

Ambassador Huang said that China’s main concern is restoring peace and order, and the safety of all those in Hong Kong, including Filipinos.

The program went on to entertain all those in attendance. I was fortunate enough to sit in the VIP table close enough to the Ambassador for him to cheers my shot glass with as many moutai as I can drink.

Moutai is a highly potent Chinese hard drink, of the same caliber (or even higher) than absinthe. Note that he made sure that both our shot glasses were filled to the brim when he and I toasted — an honor I will always cherish. It didn’t help that he had a server waiting behind him ready to refill the shot glass seconds after being emptied.

Moutai aside, it was certainly an enjoyable evening. The Chinese Embassy also awarded winners of their vlogging contest, and had surprise numbers by El Gamma Penumbra and KZ Tandigan, who apparently is very famous in China. This was a fitting event to end the year 2019, and a good preview on what China will bring in 2020.