Tributes pour in for late Philippine ambassador hailed as ‘good friend’ of China
- China says it is ‘deeply grieved by the loss of a good friend’, while Beijing’s envoy to Manila hails Jose Santiago Sta. Romana’s ‘undeniable contribution’ to the development of bilateral ties
- Observers note he helped to patch up shaky relations with Beijing amid South China Sea disputes, while being a tireless voice in advocating for the Philippines’ interests and sovereignty
It was not known whether Sta. Romana, 74, had contracted Covid-19 after the April 3 meeting, but China’s quarantine rules had required him to stay at the hotel in Huangshan city until April 25.
In a statement about his death, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said after Sta. Romana was appointed in December 2016, “Philippine-China relations flourished despite differences; indeed they flowered all the more in maturity and were deeply strengthened”.
Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, said on Tuesday: “We are deeply grieved by the loss of a good friend and extend our heartfelt condolences to his loved ones. He worked actively and industriously, making important contributions to promoting bilateral relations and friendship between our two peoples.”
China’s ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian said Sta. Romana had made an “undeniable contribution to the development of China-Philippines relations”.
“Ambassador Chito has spent the best part of his life understanding and helping the world and the Philippines to understand China,” he said.
Huang noted that Sta. Romana was “among the first Filipinos to visit the new China when he headed the visiting Philippine Youth Delegation in 1971”, after which he spent the next five decades as the country’s long-time resident, first as a student of Mandarin in Beijing, and then as ABC News’ China correspondent for over 20 years, before becoming the Philippine ambassador.
The only time Sta. Romana left China was in 1987 to earn a master’s degree in international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts.
“It’s a sad, sad day. I lost a dear brother. We lost a patriot,” said retired CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz, who together with Sta. Romana, became refugees in Beijing for 14 years from 1972, when the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Snr imposed martial rule and listed them among thousands of Filipinos to be arrested for communist subversion.
At that time, the Philippines had no diplomatic relations with China, and Marcos Snr considered the country a serious security threat after a cargo of arms it sent to local rebel communists were found and seized.
FlorCruz said that as ambassador to China, Sta. Romana would be remembered for “helping to steer the bilateral relations with calm and steady hands”.
“He knew China inside-out. He knew how things there worked – and why,” FlorCruz said. “He showed confidence and charisma tempered with humility. Most of all, Chito’s heart had always been in the right place. He kept the best interests of our country and people whatever he did.”
Author and academic Teresita Ang-See called Sta. Romana sudden death “our country’s irreparable loss”. He had helped her organise the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies in 1987 “to enhance understanding and disseminate knowledge about China, the Chinese and the Chinese overseas”.
Ang-See, an influential leader in the Filipino-Chinese community, said Sta. Romana had “helped me considerably in navigating the churning waters of Philippines-China Relations”.
She recalled that in 2013 – a year after relations broke down between the two nations when the Philippine navy tried to arrest Chinese fishermen off the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea – Sta. Romana joined her and two others to meet China think tanks in Beijing and Shanghai “to make them understand better about the Philippines’ claims and stand on the disputed waters”.
Over the years, Sta. Romana offered the Post important background information on unfolding events. During a flurry of diplomatic protests by Manila over the massing of Chinese fishing vessels near the Whitsun Reef last year, he had said the Philippines would not stray from its diplomatic strategy of “developing friendly relations with China while asserting PH sovereignty and sovereign rights”.
“It’s a combination of cooperation as much as possible, and pushback whenever necessary,” he said.
Sta. Romana could have been the envoy to China earlier. He was shortlisted for the post in 2012 after Ambassador Sonia Brady had a stroke in Beijing. However, the late Philippine President Benigno Aquino III had been wary of appointing Sta. Romana due to his closeness to Chinese officialdom, sources then said.
In Sta. Romana’s last public address on March 5 this year, where he assessed the state of bilateral relations, he advised the next Philippine president to hold firm to the country’s strategy of engagement with China.
“Our compass is our national interest as embodied in the Philippine Constitution and international law,” he said. “It is a wise choice to continue the path of engagement with China on the basis of mutual respect, friendly cooperation and mutual benefit while ensuring our independence, sovereignty and sovereign rights.”
