A Multilateral Life: Aileen Baviera, PhD (1959–2020)
“Dr. Aileen S.P. Baviera, Professor and former Dean of the UP Asian Center, passed away in the early morning of 21 March 2020. She was 60.
“Wherever my career path took me – at one time or another as an academic, an armchair activist, a government analyst, an author, an editor, a policy adviser, a public speaker on international relations, an advocate of people’s diplomacy, a keen observer of global affairs—sometimes nationalist, sometimes internationalist—China always rose to the front and center of my work,” she wrote.
Forty years of China-watching made her one of the foremost China specialists in the Philippines. She leaves an extensive publication record on contemporary China, China-Southeast Asia relations, Asia-Pacific security, and regional integration. Not many can match her expertise on the territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.” Read more…
Remembering Professor Aileen Baviera
Posted by Griffith Asia Institute | Published 24 March 2020
“One of the true privileges of my role at the Griffith Asia Institute is working with some of the most distinguished and impressive scholars across the Asia-Pacific region…
…It struck me that Aileen was not so interested in taking sides, but in understanding and engaging with the many perspectives that shape and balance our understanding of, and response to critical issues. And so it was that we came to work together. A mutual colleague introduced us just a few years ago, and we agreed to co-convene the Griffith Asia Institute’s emerging bilateral Australia-Philippines track 1.5 dialogue. The aim being to reinvigorate emphasis on our shared interests and challenges — drawing academics, policy-makers and practitioners from both nations together in strategic, policy-focused discussion.”
Read more…
‘Promoting PH-China Friendship:’ Chinese Scholar Honors Professor Baviera’s Legacy
PUBLISHED: 24 MARCH 2020/ Asian Center UP Diliman/ From Fudan University, China
The first time I had met professor Baviera was on April 5, 2010, when I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs. Professor Baviera was invited to participate in the International Conference on “Debating Multilateralism: Exploring Consensus in Asian Perspectives,” co-organized by Institute of International Studies at Fudan University (IIS Fudan) and Association of ASIA Scholars (AAS). Entrusted by Professor Zhang Guihong, the host of the conference, I went to Fudan Qingyun Hotel that morning to bring Professor Baviera to the venue. Her leg was injured, so I called a taxi in advance. We had a very pleasant chat along the way and she was so agreeable. She knew China very well and had been to many places in China, including China’s border areas such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang. Read more…
Dr. Aileen Baviera: Clear-eyed China watcher …
Published March 21, 2020 / GMA News Online
“Her death has been called a “tremendous loss” to the country. There have been few Filipino scholars who have devoted as much time to studying China. “She was probably the only one who could truly understand China in this changing world,” said Dr. Jay Batongbacal, an expert on maritime disputes and Baviera’s longtime academic colleague, “unlike the old guard who romanticized China or the new scholars who either idolized or feared it. She was able to see and point to the truth that was often in between.” Read more…
PH Navy mourns passing of leading UP prof, sinologist
Published Mar 22, 2020/ Philippine News Agency
Baviera is one of the members of the PN Board of Advisers (BoA) and “has been serving alongside the Navy since 2009.”
“She heads the Maritime Coalition Committee of the said board, always lending her expertise on matters relating to strategic studies, maritime law and international affairs,” the PN said.
“As a BoA member, her brilliant mind coupled with her strong sense of patriotism has helped in building a strong and credible Navy that our maritime nation could be proud of. Until the very end, her commitment to serve our beloved country remained unfaltering,” it added.
The PN also recognized Baviera as one of the country’s foremost sinologists.
“Her passing is a great loss to our maritime nation, but her legacy will live on,” it added. Read more…
OEF’S STABLE SEAS PROGRAM REMEMBERS DR. AILEEN BAVIERA
Published March 23, 2020/OEF
“As one of the Philippines’ foremost experts on contemporary China studies and international relations, specializing in China-Philippines and China-Southeast Asia relations, Dr. Baviera was one of Stable Seas’ most important partners. In her capacity as the Director and Founding President of Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress, she worked closely with Stable Seas to convert the Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Seas report into something that would become a foundation for direct policy engagement. Through her leadership, Stable Seas and Pathways facilitated focused maritime security workshops that brought Philippine policymakers together to discuss blindspots in that country’s maritime enforcement policies, blindspots which created opportunities for violent non-state actors like Abu Sayyaf.” Read more…
Baviera understood ‘complex’ modern China and taught us how to deal with it
Posted at Mar 21 2020 / ABS CBN News
Aileen Baviera, who had studied China for decades, knew that Sino-Philippine relations were much more complex and neither could afford to keep their doors permanently shut.
So, with fellow academics from the Philippine Association of Chinese Studies, she helped sow the seeds of a “Track II diplomacy,” said Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana, Manila’s ambassador to Beijing and who was part of the group…
“She was never into the China-bashing,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of a Manila-based political think tank who had known her since their student days at the University of the Philippines in the late 70s.
“She saw the need for a nuanced approach.” Read more…
Ambassador Quintana writes heartfelt tribute for Dr. Baviera
Published March 23, 2020 / Filipino Times
Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Hjayceelyn M. Quintana penned a heartfelt tribute to Dr. Aileen S.P. Baviera…
