NOT quite content with its middling performance as a legislative body, the Philippine Senate has apparently decided to take on the more challenging task of conducting the nation’s foreign policy, at least that part of it having to do with the South China Sea. This covers unfamiliar ground, and the senators have found themselves lost at sea.
In a resolution signed by 15 of its 24 members, the chamber has decided to consider the merits of declaring members of the Chinese Embassy persona non grata for statements they have made against the Philippine government and some Filipino officials in the course of their running debate on what Manila now calls the West Philippine Sea. While the rest of the world is consumed by the possibility of a war breaking out between Israel and Iran, or a war breaking out between the United States and China over Taiwan, or a world war breaking out between the NATO allies and Russia, our senators are trying to find a way of escalating our maritime tensions with China.
It is not easy to understand the logic behind this move. In my last column, I noted that Ambassador Jin Quang, China’s new ambassador to the Philippines, has committed himself to a sustained diplomatic dialogue with the Marcos government, on the various issues dividing the two countries. This was the first such open declaration, at that level, to de-escalate the tension caused by the water cannoning incidents involving the Philippine and Chinese coast guards in contested South China Sea waters. It deserves a positive response from the Philippine government, if it is genuinely interested in peace. Of course, Manila has every right to be cautious, guarded and skeptical, but its more important duty is to verify whether Beijing means what its ambassador is saying, and whether it has concrete proposals to back up its professed aim.
In an earlier article, I quoted the distinguished Prof. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago as saying that in 2024, the Marcos government agreed to develop closer economic relations with Beijing in exchange for $32 billion in infrastructure investments over the next five years. These include three major railways, major port expansion in strategic areas, and major agricultural and energy development projects. The government has not confirmed this report; neither has it denied it. But whereas Ambassador Quang’s statement tries to move Philippine-Chinese relations forward, the proposed Senate resolution promises to take them backward.
The Philippine government has never before declared a foreign diplomat persona non grata for publicly articulating his government’s position on a particular issue, where the Philippine government maintains a contrary position. Neither has any foreign government done this to any third-country diplomat who was merely performing his official duties. The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations empowers governments to declare certain individuals as unwelcome in their jurisdiction, and must therefore vacate immediately. But this is usually the result of their having committed serious offenses, including threats to national security, diplomatic misconduct and interference in domestic policy.
I don’t believe the Chinese diplomat who insists that every part of the nine-dash line belongs to China — which to the Philippines and to the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration has no legal basis — has committed a serious offense that calls for his being declared persona non grata. Otherwise, China would have to declare every Filipino diplomat in Beijing persona non grata as well for maintaining the contrary position. We are in the middle of an intense and passionate public debate, and we cannot allow any one side to weaponize the process by dictating how the other side should speak. But the Chinese ambassador is right in suggesting that the two sides transform their debate into a dialogue — the sooner, the better.
Meantime, our 15 senators should remember that their real job is to pass good laws and to correctly interpret the meaning of the word “forthwith” in case the president or the vice president is impeached and he or she is brought to the Senate for trial. With the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the president will know, without any coaching from the side, whether the time has come to start expelling Chinese diplomats who insist that the nine-dash line should be binding upon all mankind.
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