Using diplomatic language, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unexpectedly asked President Aquino to apologize for the massacre of August 23 last year of eight Hong Kong tourists in a hostage situation bungled by his government, diplomatic sources say. Mr. Aquino was caught flatfooted, as his foreign affairs officials had said they were sure the issue was a âdead one.â
Though stated in a roundabout way, Wenâs message was unmistakable, and wasnât even made confidential, the sources say, pointing to the official account by Chinaâs Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mr. Aquinoâs September 1 meeting: âWen urged the Philippine government to attach importance to the requests of the government and people of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and properly handle the aftermath of last yearâs incident in which tourists from Hong Kong were held hostage in Manila.â
The main request made by the victimâs relatives was for Mr. Aquino to formally apologize for his governmentâs blunders in the hostage crisis. The other two requests were for cash compensation, and for the government to file criminal cases against officials who bungled the crisis.
The foreign affairs ministry reported the Presidentâs reply: âAquino, in response, said the Philippine government and people feel deep regret for the tragedy, noting that the Philippine government is handling the aftermath in a serious manner and will keep in contact with China.â
Mr. Aquino thus committed himself to report to China â and not only to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region â on whatever steps he will take to show that he is âproperly handling the aftermathâ of the massacre.
Ironically, the state visit only provided the occasion for Chinaâs central leadership to comment on â even officially intervene in â the Luneta hostage fiasco. To emphasize the message, the Communist Partyâs mouthpiece, the Peopleâs Daily, made Wenâs âurgingâ as the only news item from his meeting with Mr. Aquino, headlining it: âChina urges the Philippines to properly handle aftermath of HK hostage incident.â
While expected of a superpower dealing with a weaker nation, Wenâs demand for an apology was also a reaction to the recent incendiary remarks by Mr. Aquino and his officials on the massacre. Mr. Aquino made the request for an apology seem ridiculous by comparing it to the recent massacre of 77 people in Denmark by a lone gunman, ignoring the fact that there was no hostage situation with the police in position for 11 hours. The victims were particularly incensed by Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierdaâs comment that their visit accompanied by a Hong Kong âopposition lawmakerâ was just a part of that officialâs politicking, a statement which a Hong Kong newspaper headlined: âPhilippine government attacks HK lawmaker.â
The Luneta massacre was not the only dark cloud that hung heavily over the Aquino visit. Just a month ago, the Aquino administration raised Chinaâs hackles over the Spratlys dispute. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario claimed that China was fabricating its claim on the Spratlys because of its âhunger for the areaâs oil and gas resources.â Mr. Aquino boasted that the Philippine Navyâs newly refurbished warship from the US would be deployed to the disputed areas in the âWestern Philippine Seaâ to protect its claims from Chinese incursions. The Navy announced that it was finishing a second construction on a disputed island.
With this kind of provocative statements, the Peopleâs Daily portrayed Mr. Aquinoâs visit as a âreconciliatory stance,â a âfirst stepâ in easing tensions between the two countries. It reported that Mr. Aquino had agreed that disputes between the two countries would be handled through bilateral consultations, a reversal of his earlier position to take the issue to the United Nations for arbitration.
China clearly sent its message of displeasure over Mr. Aquinoâs handling of the Luneta incident and the Spratlys dispute by making his visit so unproductive and lukewarm that made diplomats wonder why he made the visit at such a time of unprecedented tension between the two countries. In the entire five-day visit, the Chinese did not host any state dinner, vin dâhonneur, lunch, or even dimsum for the President so that he had to take his meals inside his suite or dine with his own delegation at hotel restaurants.
The seven agreements signed in Beijing were so embarrassingly vacuous documents that neither the Peopleâs Daily nor the websites of Philippine government agencies involved bothered to report them. One agreement for instance merely called on our government TV to run Chinese news. At the last minute, the Chinese rejected a âJoint Statement on the South China Seaâ which the Department of Foreign Affairs earlier had announced would be signed. There was no discussion about any soft or inexpensive loan from China, which has overtaken the World Bank as the biggest lender to developing countries. Our foreign secretary downgraded his rank by signing the documents with bureaucrats whose ranks were too low that they were not even identified in the reports as his counterparts.
But Mr. Aquino again proved his tight hold on local media, which mouthed his claims uncritically. The â$60-billion, five-year development programâ with China was merely an extrapolation based on the trend in total Philippines-China trade that saw bilateral trade growing to $28 billion in 2010. âP-Noy back with $13-billion dealâ is pure hype. Only $1.3 billion were âfirm commitmentsâ â mostly expansion plans of Chinese companies already in the country, such those by Chinaâs State Grid Corp., which invested $1 billion in a power project with the Henry Sy group in 2007.