Co-Existence: the Strategic US view

POLITICAL speculation is burning among the chattering circles of the nation as Sara Duterte drops her Davao mayoralty candidacy for a yet unknown electoral position.

The heated question is” Will Sara run for the presidency and divide the BBM vote or will she help consolidate the Marcos-Duterte legacy of a sovereign and non-aligned Philippines versus the “Pinklawans” (Pink and Yellows or Dilawans) opposition vote?

Underlying the domestic national political contest is the strategic geopolitical competition between Western imperialism represented in this era by the United States of America, and the rising post imperialist-colonial era led by the astounding rise of China.

The late President Ferdinand E. Marcos and President Rodrigo R. Duterte are distinguished in Philippine and world history by their unshackling from U.S. neocolonialism and carrying out independent foreign relations.

The Filipino political forces today favoring the continuation of the neo-colonial status (Amboys we can call them) of the Philippines have consolidated around the feckless Leni Robredo falling behind a distance of the constellation Andromeda from Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

The Amboys are really dwindling in numbers through the past decade after the last, vain attempt of the last of the Yellow Amboy presidents, Noynoy Aquino, tried to derail the rise of China with the SCS/WPS Scarborough-arbitration gambit.

Alack-and-alas for the Amboys, their master race, who call themselves the Anglosphere, has fallen on hard times while Asia and the rest of the world they exploited have started their ascent. The Scarborough and arbitration failed to intimidate China and collapsed in the last year of the pandemic as the leading local proponents of the arbitration fraud found themselves at loggerheads when Hilbay exposed Carpio’s self-serving shenanigans and Jardeleza debunked Batongbacal’s barren hardline.

The incontrovertible evidence of the collapse of the anti-China theme of the Amboys is the poll performance of the chief anti-China leader Justice Antonio Carpio campaigning early in the game on his anti-China platform.

Just before Carpio dropped out of the surveys he polled a maximum of 0.2 percent and today he is totally out of the picture, while the leading Amboy candidate Leni Robredo vowing to make China recognize the arbitral ruling polls in the latest Publicus survey polled just 21.3 percent compared to BBM’s 49.3 percent.

The campaign of the opposition has hardly made a major issue of the SCS dispute while China has made incredible strides in relations with ASEAN and the Philippines through the pandemic by showing its genuine and tangible concern, literally, for the welfare of Filipinos with at least 5-million donated vaccine plus 40-million doses of delivered Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines when and where it is needed – with 50-million more doses to go, all without quid pro quo.

The situation globally is also evident by way of the most reliable global survey conducted by U.S. allies in NATO.

The new 2021 survey of the Alliance of Democracies conducted by the EU found that of 50,000 surveyed across 50 countries “44 percent of those surveyed said another threat to democracy worldwide is the influence of the United States. That ranked higher than the influence of China or Russia.”

While the U.S. and Biden have been displaying a sort of schizophrenic interactions with China, on the one hand they antagonize China as in the AUKUS alliance case while on the other, softening up on China with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai broaching “recoupling,” between the US and China on their ongoing trade war.

The real revelation is in the innovation of the policy statements and directions. The latest innovation in US announced policies is from National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s statement that the US seeks “coexistence with China”.

The is major headline in the U.S. newspapers, with memorable quotes such as “The goal here is not containment, it’s not a new Cold War.”

Mr. Sullivan is also quoted saying, “This is competition. It does not have to be conflict. There is no reason there need be conflict, …” and “We want the terms of that coexistence in the international system to be favorable to American interests and values…” – but I do not hear “favorable to allies too” which is what Amboys should take note of.

Changes to the US political strategic thinking cannot be introduced to the public overnight and it will be seen in the changes and not in what is retained from the past.

AUKUS is just for show as the internal dispute among Western allies and internal to Australia shows, they’re not even sure it will push through and certain that the subs will be obsolete by the time they are constructed (if at all).

The promise is this: We are looking forwards to the BRICS multi-polar world in a decade or so.

(Samahan si Ka Mentong Laurel at mga panauhin sa “Power Thinks” tuwing Miyerkules @6pm Live Global Talk News Radio (GTNR) sa Facebook at sa Talk News TV sa You Tube; at tuwing Linggo 8 to 10am sa RP1 738khz AM sa radyo).