National Security And Development: Studies On China-Philippines Relations Since World War â…¡

Philippines' China policy and Sino-Philippines relations have undergone dramatic changes since the World Warâ…¡.,and can be divided into four phrases.During the first period,from the late 1940s to the late 1960s and early 70s,based on ideology and national security,Philippines pursued a fully isolation policy towards China.During the second phrase,from the early 1970s and the early 1990s,the above policy based on national security and ideology was abandoned,and development policy was regarded as the main diplomacy thoughts,in this context,Philippines finally opened its door to P.R. China.However,Philippines' China policy went different direction during President Aquino and President Marcos as Taiwan issue emerged as a problem on Sino-Philippines relations.The third phrase started from the early 1990s and ended at the beginning of the 21^st century,during which Philippines's idea on national security was re-shaped by the new structure of East Asia in the post-Cold War times,still,the pragmatism-oriented development diplomacy worked as it did in the past.A new time for Sino-Philippines was activated since President Arroyo came into power in 2001,in this period,both sides agreed to establish strategic partner relations in 2004.In the four stages of Sino-Philippine relations,ideology,the United States, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its rebellion,historical heritage, and overseas Chinese,territorial dispute,Taiwan issue,Philippines' political structure,economic relations and other factors,interact and intersect from the international level and national level,and finally decide Philippines' China policy.Over these four stages,a series of changes from global and regional structure have constantly happened,such us the collapse of Cold War structure,the on-going and forthcoming rise of China,the integration of Southeast Asia.Basically speaking,Sino-Philippines relations has undergone a series of great changes from politics-centric to economy-centric,from national security to economy development,from ideology-oriented to pragmatism-oriented.In the first phase,the pro-US principal and anti-communist ideology,two factors transferred from international systems,intersected with the domestic factors,such as CPP and its rebellion,overseas Chinese,and finally formed Philippines' China policy:twenty-year's isolation,and with national security as its prime consideration.In the second stage,with the gradual collapse of the Cold War system,Philippines' foreign policy has shifted from ideology-centric to politics-centric,the development of diplomacy has become the leading foreign policy thought,and help establish its formal diplomacy relations with China.However,development diplomacy worked as a double-edged sword on Sino-Philippines relations.Driven by development diplomacy,Philippines developed closer relations with Taiwan than before, and the so called "one and a half" China policy came on under this situation. Throughout the whole 1990s,the third phrase,development diplomacy continued to play an active role in Sino-Philippine relations,ate the same time, Philippines revalued China's influence on its national security due to their conflicts on Spratly Island.Conceived China's threats,Philippines hoped to introduce USA's power to balance China in this region.Anyway,the tendency was shifted during President Estrada and totally reversed when President Arroyo came into power in 2001.In the fourth stage,both sides welcomed their golden time for their friendship.Further,they suspended their claim on Spratly Island and made an agreement to explore this region. The Sino-Philippines relations in this time,though still influenced by development diplomacy is already beyond traditional pragmatism.All these changes took place under the background that China has been raising as a global power as well as establishing closer relations with its southeast neighbors.As far as the future of bilateral relations is concerned,though mostly decided by domestic politics,Sino-Philippines relations can not yet break away from historic factors like America.It is still too early to make a positive value on Spratly issue even without touching it.Anyway,China still can,to great extend,lead the to-be relations through its strong economic power and political power.