What would a pragmatic Marcos Jr. bring to China-Philippines relations?
2022-05-13 13:35
By Ge Hongliang, Vice Dean of the ASEAN Institute of Guangxi University for Nationalities and Director of the China-ASEAN Maritime Security Research Centre
"For the past 20 years, I have worked diligently as a public servant of this country. Now, I would like to sincerely ask the Filipino people if I have performed well enough to earn your trust?"
In the last Philippine election year, Marcos Jr. threw such a question at the Filipino people while accusing the Aquino III government of inept leadership and poor disaster relief. Now, six years later, the Filipino people answered this question with their votes on May 9, "polling day".
According to preliminary statistics, as of 10 May, 98.03% of the votes had been cast, giving Marcos Jr. a landslide victory with 31.02 million votes. This means that Marcos Jr. has conquered the Filipino electorate with his "hard work and dedication" and has demonstrated his pragmatic approach to politics.
The vision of a "second-generation" politician
Marcos Jr.'s hard work and pragmatism are both historically influenced and practically evident and effective.
When it comes to Marcos Junior, the status of "son of a former president" is inescapable. But what is also inescapable is the deep historical memory and political imprint of his father Marcos's 20-year rule and approach to politics.
In the mind of Marcos Junior, his father was "the greatest father" and a genius politician. During his long reign, the Philippines enjoyed a golden age of development in many sectors, with major infrastructure projects such as hospitals, roads and bridges, which, in the eyes of the Marcos family's supporters, represented progress and prosperity for the country.
In addition, the Marcoses' political career was marked by hard work and pragmatism.
Taking 1986 as a dividing line, Marcos Jr. has been in politics twice. In 1980, at the age of 23, he became deputy governor of Ilocos Norte, then governor three years later, before going into exile in the United States in 1986 with the fall of the Marcos regime.
In 1991, Marcos Jr. returned to the Philippines and was elected to the House of Representatives the following year. From 1998, he was elected governor of Ilocos Norte for three consecutive terms, developing industries such as tourism and wind power; from 2010 to 2016, he focused on economic development and livelihood issues as a Philippine senator.
In this election, it was Marcos Jr's pragmatic approach to politics that appealed to voters. In particular, he gained attention and overwhelming support among the "millennial" (post-80s and post-90s) and "Generation Z" (post-95) voters.
This is not only due to Marcos Jr's use of social media, but also to his pragmatic and development-focused campaign promises - which will promote infrastructure development such as the internet, roads, agriculture and shipping, as well as providing more jobs, investing in agriculture, reducing electricity costs, attracting foreign investment, and improving agricultural facilities and digital infrastructure.
At the same time, in the face of the economic and social development woes hit by the epidemic, Marcos Jr. also used "We will rise again" as his campaign slogan, calling his running mate with Sarah Duterte a "unity coalition" and stressing to voters that he can bring to the Philippines Unity, stability and hope, development.
The test of the "Chinese know-it-alls"
As an old friend of the Chinese people, Marcos Jr. was one of the pioneers in the overall development of friendly and cooperative relations between the Philippines and China, and a witness to the deepening of the traditional friendship between the two peoples. After his successful inauguration, the pragmatism of Marcos Jr. is bound to bring more pragmatic connotations to China-Philippine relations.
Firstly, economic recovery and social development will continue to form the focus of cooperation between China and the Philippines. At present, the Philippines is at its "most vulnerable moment" due to the new COVID19 epidemic, severe poverty and unemployment, and hyperinflation caused by soaring oil and gas prices.
For Marcos Jr, China is the Philippines' most important trading partner and relations with China are crucial to the Philippine economy. For this reason, he supports the dovetailing of the "Build Build Build" programme with the "Belt and Road" initiative and "agriculture as the key to economic growth."
Secondly, for Marcos Jr, there is much more to be done in the Philippines than just trade and commerce, in traditional areas such as tourism, education and health, and in new areas such as the digital economy and new energy development.
Furthermore, Marcos Jr. has advocated for some of the differences and frictions that exist between China and the Philippines, such as the South China Sea, to be mitigated and resolved through broader cooperation, as the result the oil and gas exploration and exploitation agreements signed between China and the Philippines in 2018 are therefore highly visible.
Of course, the fact that China-Philippine relations may take on a richer connotation under the Marcos Jr. administration does not mean that Marcos Jr. will fully continue the Duterte administration's policy towards China, and adjustments to the areas, modalities and modes of China-Philippine cooperation may still occur. We should be prepared for this, but we should also maintain a full dialogue with this pragmatic old friend, and work together to promote a deeper, more solid and stable relationship of comprehensive strategic cooperation between China and the Philippines.