OF LAW AND POLITICS
Ambassador Jaime S. Bautista, Doctor of
Laws
WHAT RUSSIA HAS IN COMMON WITH THE PHILIPPINES AS A POWER
IN THE PACIFIC REGION
On Thursday, 2 July 2016, we
will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of our establishment of
diplomatic relations with Russia. Both the Philippines and Russia will also celebrate
their national days on June 12.
We have many things in common
with this distant northern land, though much of Russia is in the Arctic
region. When the swallows reappear in
Siberia during springtime, the Philippines enjoys its most pleasant weather due
to the cold winds blowing from Siberia.
During the presidency of
Boris Yeltsin, Russia suffered a national identity crisis. With the rejection
of communism as the nation’s ideology, and the acceptance of democracy and
private enterprise, Russia went through a period of introspection on what is
the Russian psyche. Earlier, we faced
the same experience conscious of being ethnically Asians living in Asia,
surrounded by Asians, but having a culture and national aspirations molded by
Western civilization.
The Russians are not only
Europeans. They are Eurasians, being
also Asians. They inhabit the largest
landmass in the world stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Russia
was part of the Silk Road, and in the thirteen century, Moscow fell under the
suzerainty of the Mongol hordes with the consequent mixing of the races. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “Shave a Russian and you will find a Tatar.”
The Philippines was also a
part of the Silk Road as an alternative route that linked not only Europe with
Asia but also the newly discovered American continent. As one author noted, Manila was the first
truly global city in the world. The
galleon trade of the Pearl of the Orient brought Chinese treasures to Spain and
the rest of Europe paid for with silver mined in Bolivia.
Moscow is the Third Rome,
succeeding Constantinople as the center of the Eastern Christian Orthodox
Church. The Russians have time and again discovered that the Christian Orthodox
religion is deeply embedded in Russian culture.
In Yeltsin’s time, this was symbolized by the re-burial of the bones of
Nicholas II in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.
My spouse and I were present
at this historic event and seen on CNN seated at the front rows of the
cathedral. Many of our colleagues were
absent because they doubted that Yeltsin, as a former communist, would witness
this religious ceremony. Happily, he
attended this symbolic event with his devout spouse.
Until lately, the Philippines
was the only Christian country in Asia.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox
Church have essentially the
same doctrines, although the latter may have its own rituals. Both believe in the presence of Jesus Christ
in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist.
Russians before receiving holy communion, turn to the nearest person and
say: “Please forgive me.”
It may not be widely known that
the Philippines and Russia are old friends and meet in friendship in the
Pacific region. During the Commonwealth,
the Philippines gave refuge to the White Russians who had reached our islands by
sea when they fled from the Bolsheviks.
With a seaport in
Vladivostok, Russia became a Pacific power. It had been a strategic objective
of Russia over the centuries to obtain an outlet to the sea, unimpeded by the
forces of nature. Russia’s predecessor
took an active part in the prolonged UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS). Together with the United
States, the Soviet Union, as the other superpower, fiercely defended the
principle of freedom of navigation.
Russia is a Party to UNCLOS, and is, therefore, bound by its
provisions. Curiously, the United States
has not ratified UNCLOS.
In the Second World War, we
fought on the same side as Allies against the Axis powers. The Philippines and Russia both signed the UN
Charter in San Francisco. In more recent
times, the Philippines supported Russia’s objectives to join APEC and to become
a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN and a member of ASEM. Russia joined this last
organization, Asia – Europe Meeting, as an Asian country. ASEM is a forum to deepen relations between Asia
and Europe at all levels.
There are striking similarities
between our incoming President, Rodrigo Duterte, and President Vladimir
Putin. After appointing a number of
Prime Ministers who were unable to hold on to this position, Yeltsin catapulted
Putin to national prominence from being a Vice Mayor of St. Petersburg to Prime
Minister of Russia, then Yeltsin resigned as President in favor of Putin at the
end of the 20th Century, trusting that Putin was the tough leader
who could hold immense Russia together and overcome the nation’s enormous challenges. In our recent elections, Filipinos elected
Duterte, Mayor of Davao, to the highest position in the country, seeing in him
a macho, decisive, and a man of
action who could impose law and order throughout our archipelago, and build an
inclusive economy.
I was based in Peking when
preparations were being made by Malacañang to establish diplomatic relations with
Moscow. President Ferdinand Marcos’ strategic
objective was to have the Soviet Union as a counterweight to the United
States. I was tasked to join Minister
Rodolfo Diaz as the advance party of the negotiating team but because my son,
Daniel, was taken ill, I was instructed instead to return to Manila and serve
as the anchor man for the visit of Marcos to Nairobi (for the UNEP Conference),
Moscow and some Asian capitals on the return trip. Though I did not see Russia at the beginning
of our diplomatic relations, it was my destiny to be accredited as Ambassador
(AEP) to Russia at the end of my diplomatic career and concurrently as AEP to
the 5 Central Asian countries, the 3 countries in the Caucasus, and to Ukraine
and Belarus. Based on my diplomatic
experience, I can appreciate that Russia, as a Pacific Power with its own pivot
to Asia, can influence events to preserve the peace and prosperity of our Pacific
region.
Russian Ambassador Igor
Khovaev told me Russia encourages the peaceful resolution of the conflicts in
the South China Sea in accordance with the generally accepted principles of
international law, the United Nations Charter and the UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea (UNCLOS), and supports the full implementation of the 2002
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the efforts to
work out and adopt a legally binding Code of Conduct. These principles are
stated in the Sochi Declaration of the ASEAN Russia Summit held on19-20 May
2016.
