By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News / 1 October 2019

 

The way China behaves in matters of external relations reflects far deeper roots than its current status as the world’s second largest economy, a foreign affairs expert said on Tuesday, noting that the Chinese underwent a long period of humiliation in the hands of imperialists.

Former Philippine Ambassador to the ASEAN Wilfredo Villacorta pointed out that when Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the leader declared: “Never again shall China be humiliated.”

“His words resonate to this day and have incentivized his country to achieve superpower status,” Villacorta noted.

“The imperialism by Western powers and Japan in China during the last years of the Qing dynasty marked the darkest age for the Chinese people. Major powers cut up China for themselves and imposed unequal treaties,” Villacorta said, referring to the years 1839 to 1949, during a lecture at the Ateneo de Manila University.

“This century is a main factor that shaped China’s behavior until now,” he added.

The Philippines is pitted against China in overlapping claims to portions of the West Philippine Sea.

The Duterte administration, however, has chosen to strengthen the country’s economic ties with the Asian powerhouse and not impose the arbitral ruling in 2016 which invalidated China’s historic claims in the disputed waters.

“The  Tribunal  concluded that  there  was  no  legal  basis  for  China  to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’,” according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in July 2016. Read more…