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Asian Angle | Manila’s new China envoy key to Marcos Jnr’s plan to improve bilateral ties
- Nomination of Jaime FlorCruz, a renowned China expert, may help Ferdinand Marcos Jnr shape a more informed policy towards country’s largest trade partner
- Manila and Beijing have expanded trade and cooperated on infrastructure, but still disagree over territorial and maritime issues
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President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has signalled his intentions to shift Sino-Philippines relations to a higher gear by naming a veteran China expert as ambassador to Beijing. The nomination of Jaime FlorCruz, former CNN Beijing bureau chief and long-time China resident may also help Marcos Jnr shape a more informed policy towards the Philippines’ largest trade partner.
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FlorCruz will take over for long-time friend and fellow China hand, Jose Santiago Sta Romana. The latter served as Manila’s top envoy to Beijing during the previous Rodrigo Duterte government. Under Sta Romana’s watch, relations between the nations warmed, but a vacuum emerged following his sudden death in April. If Marcos wants to project continuity, if not deepening relations, no other candidate best fits the bill.
FlorCruz and his predecessor have near-identical life experiences: they were student activists who got stranded in China because of martial law, eventually staying for 40 years and bearing witness to the country’s massive transformation. Both covered China for American media companies and know the country’s language and culture.
FlorCruz can be to Marcos what Sta Romana was for Duterte – an unparalleled asset in fostering productive ties with the rising superpower. The designation of FlorCruz may soothe Beijing’s concerns about the Philippines’ increasing tilt towards the United States and its constantly shifting policy towards China.
Marcos has already travelled to the US to speak before the UN General Assembly and met President Joe Biden in September. But he has yet to make travel plans to Beijing. US Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to visit Manila after attending the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in Bangkok.
Both allies plan to increase joint military drills next year, and defence department officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jnr already met his US peer, Lloyd Austin, in Hawaii in September. The implementation and expansion of the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement that will translate to greater US strategic access in the archipelago made Beijing uneasy.
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A perceived growing US-Philippine alignment over Taiwan fuels Chinese discomfort about Manila serving as a potential staging ground for US operations across the Strait. The designation of FlorCruz may thus recharge Philippines-China relations and help Beijing keep up with renewed Manila-Washington ties.
After rocky times during the Duterte years, US influence over its former colony is on the upswing, and the early months of the Marcos presidency may have given China more reasons to be wary.
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