Credibility

China’s President Xi Jinping showed no rancor toward President BongBong Marcos who had earlier used the ASEAN Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to hurl derogatory verbiage against China. At the APEC Summit that followed in South Korea, Marcos went up the stage where other heads of state were seated at the presidential table and extended his hand to President Xi. The Chinese leader shook his hand briefly and Marcos retreated quickly to where in the crowd we didn’t see.

What happened in just a couple of days between Malaysia and Korea was a display of uncanny diplomatic conduct by PBBM. He berated China and then wooed President Xi to attend the next ASEAN forum to be hosted by the Philippines next year.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim was not amused with Marcos using the Kuala Lumpur event to lambast China. Without naming names, he delivered a scathing message that Malaysia was a friend of and had no problem with China and it could not be dragged into somebody else’s conflict with that country.

Marcos looked like he had been ostracized. The atmosphere was not congenial. President Donald Trump ostentatiously announced the US will extend zero tariffs on exports from Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.

It was a slight on Marcos who had just recently concluded a trade pact with President Trump with the US enjoying zero tariffs while the Philippines was slapped with 19 percent. And if that was not enough, during the ceremonial turnover of the gavel from Anwar to Marcos, the video blazoned across the wide screen was that of former President Rodrigo Duterte hosting the 2016 ASEAN Forum in Manila.

The reaction of Malacañang to what happened was both absurd and incoherent. It explained that Marcos had refused a zero tariff on Philippine exports to the US, opting instead for a 19-percent tariff because “the government is out to protect key domestic sectors from being fully opened to foreign competition.”

Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, in a statement released by Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, said, “The Marcos administration chose to prioritize food security and local producers over rapid market liberalization.”

In another statement, Go and Castro issued a rejoinder: “We are trying to protect several industries in the Philippines such as rice, corn, sugar and poultry.”

Tell that to the members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to the Makati Business Club.

The Palace statement was superfluous. The Marcos and Trump trade talks in fact allows the US to export any product it wants to the Philippines without any barriers at all.

The concluding APEC ceremony, where Marcos made a last ditch attempt to reach out to Xi, was for naught. At the height of the APEC summit, in the West Philippines Sea the Philippine Navy was conducting a military exercise with Australia and New Zealand, an act that diminished, if not eroded, the remaining credibility Marcos had with Xi.

The aftermath will be difficult to guess as the foreign policy of this administration is as convoluted as the statements of Marcos and his minor functionaries. I will not hazard a guess. So far only Marcos himself says the confidence of investors in the Philippines has returned.

We have a Tagalog saying for that: “Huwag mo kaming bilogin.” In English, “Don’t take us for a ride.”