Philippines First' foreign policy

DIPLOMATIC POUCH

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

During the last century, the concept of being a neutral country was the favorite theme of many Filipino nationalists. Today, we still hear calls for our country to stay neutral. Unfortunately, geo-political changes have made this increasingly difficult.

In the latter part of the 20th century, the nonaligned world was composed largely of post-colonial countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It was not surprising that the main agenda of this so-called "Third World" was to challenge Western dominance and, at that time, among its leaders were China and India.

The biggest change in today's geopolitical world is that China is now a superpower. As China becomes more powerful, it has increasingly stopped other countries as partners but has begun acting like another imperial power. It has, for example, imposed draconian conditions on trade and investments which have led to active resistance to Chinese investments in an increasing number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Southeast Asia.

In Southeast Asia, China has shifted from a policy of seeking partnerships to one of imposing its will. It has gone to the extent of violating the territorial sovereignty and pressuring countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Nations which have aligned themselves with China are no longer considered nonaligned but rather as the allies of a new superpower.

In the United States, the election of Donald Trump has further increased the pressure on Third World countries to give up nonalignment.

Trump's policies on drastic increases on tariffs on its foreign trade; abandonment of the global fight against climate change; massive deportation of migrants and abandonment of its traditional alliances have been viewed as an isolationist policy or a retreat from the world.

However, these new radical policies actually suggest that the US is trying to reassert American hegemony.