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SPEECH OF SPEAKER JOSE DE VENECIA AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION |
|
 (The following is the full text of the prepared speech of House Speaker Jose
De Venecia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. on 19 September 2005)
“TOWARD A HUNDRED YEARS OF PEACE IN THE ASIA PACIFIC”
(As Prepared)
I am pleased and honored – to be asked before this most influential of the
American ‘think tanks.’
I only hope I can add to your store of knowledge about our part of the world.
Certainly Asia itself is taking on a new importance in global affairs.
In our continent are to be found not only the fastest-growing economies but also
the rising powers of our time.
The amazing growth of South Korea, China and India – the unification of
Southeast Asia – the resurgence of Japan – all these are combining to shift the
world’s center of gravity from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
And it is in Asia that humankind’s fears of nuclear war and its hopes of a
hundred years of peace – it is in today’s Asia that these hopes and fears are
met.
FOR THE US, ASIA IS BOTH A DANGER AND AN OPPORTUNITY
For the United States, Asia is both a danger and an opportunity.
Strategically, it is the only region from which another superpower could emerge
– to threaten the American mainland.
Economically, Asia is also the region of the greatest potential for American
business.
Already US trade with East Asia alone far exceeds its trade with the whole of
Western Europe.
PHILIPPINE EFFORTS TO ADAPT TO CHANGE IN ASIA
Hence our Philippine proposal for inter-faith dialogue – for a dialogue between
religions and cultures – which the United Nations has accepted, and begun to
carry out.
In our part of the world alone, interfaith dialogue should help heal schisms
between Muslims and Buddhists in Southern Thailand; Hindus and Buddhists in Sri
Lanka; Muslims and Hindus in Kashmir; as well as Muslims and Christians in the
Southern Philippines and in Eastern Indonesia.
A second Philippine proposal is for the creditor-countries to plow back into the
economies of the debtor-countries 50 percent of the debt-service payments they
receive.
These payments, we hope, would be invested as equity in reforestation, mass-
housing, safe water systems, hospitals, infrastructure, reclamation and
industrial parks, micro-finance, energy and natural resources development, and
other anti-poverty programs.
This Proposal – which we offer as a major complement to the agreement by the G-8
countries to write-off multilateral debt owed by the poorest countries of the
world – has gained acceptance in a number of G-8 countries in Western Europe.
An endorsement of this proposal by the Heritage Foundation will certainly have
an impact on Washington’s decision-makers.
Let me elaborate briefly on events in the Philippines – and trends in the Asia
Pacific – that might be of interest to you.
II. WHAT’S HAPPENNING IN THE PHILIPPINES?
More and more, our people see not just individual leaders – but the political
system itself – as responsible for the way we have fallen behind our neighbors
in the world’s fastest-growing region.
Consider how- twice in the last 19 years – middle-class Filipinos have had to
intervene forcibly in the political process – to replace oppressive and corrupt
Presidents through extra-constitutional – ‘people power’ – movements.
And consider how, in this age of globalization and economic interdependence,
protectionist provisions that date back 70 years have made our country the
poorest among all the comparable economies of East Asia.
Consider also how our political parties – formed around populist personalities
instead of coherent programs of government – have made sheer popularity – and
not intelligence, competence, or experience – the best qualification for public
office.
OUR DEMOCRACY OF STALEMATE
Over 200 years ago, America’s Founding Fathers – seeking to establish democratic
government on their vast and diverse society – deliberately designed their
Constitution to prevent strong central government.
And this they managed by dividing political power – vertically, between the
federal government and its constituent-sates; and horizontally, among the
executive, the legislature, and the judiciary.
In the Philippine setting, this system of deliberately divided government has
merely perpetuated – even sharpened – the traditional factionalism of our
politics.
In the absence of firmly-established democratic institutions, divided government
has led to rent-seeking and corruption.
In the context of our winner-take-all political system, this elaborate system of
checks and balances among the three branches of government has merely produced a
democracy of stalemate.
ILLEGAL WIRE-TAPS SET OFF POLITICAL CRISIS
At the moment, our political anxieties are focused on the troubles of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In a bitterly fought election last year, she defeated the principal Opposition
candidate – an action-movie star who had become a movie folk-hero – by little
more than three percent of the vote.
In recent weeks, her sliver of victory, although in excess of a million votes,
has been put to doubt by revelations of her telephone conversations with an
official of the Commission on Elections – recorded through illegal wire-taps –
which the Opposition interpret as a plot to pad her vote.
After failing to get people out on the streets, the Opposition filed impeachment
charges against her in the House of Representatives.
The charges having been turned down by the Justice Committee – a judgment
confirmed by the whole of the House of Representatives in plenary session – Mrs.
Arroyo remains secure in the presidency.
NO QUICK FIXES FOR THE PHILIPPINES
Yet there is no doubt the political agitation is hurting the economy – which has
been doing remarkably well – by discouraging investment and putting pressure on
the peso.
Last year, the economy grew by 6.1% - a 15-year record. While 2005 is likely to
be lower – if only because of higher oil prices – GDP is still thought likely to
exceed 5%.
Meanwhile, tax reforms have laid a strong foundation for growth. Congress has
been able to pass an expanded value-added-tax and higher excise taxes for
alcohol and tobacco. The Bureau of Customs and of Internal Revenue have been the
objects of serious reorganization programs.
International lenders like the World Bank and Standard-Charter have praised
these fiscal reforms. They see the country as starting to reap the fruits of
fiscal consolidation.
What’s ahead for the Philippines?
There are no quick fixes for our country.
But I am hopeful the shift to the parliamentary system will enable the Executive
and the Legislature to work in concert rather than in opposition.
We are proposing that Parliament be unicameral. This will make law-making
simpler and more efficient – by doing away with the duplication of effort, the
rivalries and the clashing ambitions that pervade every two-chamber legislature.
THE MERITS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM
Not only will the parliamentary system make government accountable directly to
the people’s representatives. Sheer popularity will no longer be enough for
would-be national leaders.
At the very least, we will no longer need to resort to extra-constitutional
means to remove erring Chief Executives in mid-term.
An example of how differently presidential and parliamentary governments deal
with the same problem we can see from the Philippine and the Thai efforts to
deal with the financial crisis of 1997.
Thailand’s Parliament quickly deposed the old government through a no-confidence
vote – and replaced it with a new one.
The new government enacted –within a year- a special purpose asset-vehicle law
to expedite economic recovery by getting rid of non-performing loans.
In the Philippines, the Senate took much longer than the House, and failed to
take advantage of the appetite of multi-national banks to acquire and rebuild
the non-performing assets.
WE WILL NEED TO STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE STATE MACHINERY
Of course, charter change will call for other changes.
We must face up to the weak capacity of our public institutions – which is
self-evident in the uneven enforcement of the law; in the incompleteness of
civilian supremacy over the military; and in poorly-developed patterns of
political representation.
We must establish a professional civil service – because, in the end, democratic
practice comes down to the machinery of government.
We will also need to modernize our political parties – to make them more
efficient channels of popular expression, and more effective agencies of
representative and responsive government.
PREVENTING ‘REVOLVING DOOR’ GOVERNMENTS
Those of us who propose the parliamentary alternative are acutely aware of the
danger that it might produce ‘revolving door’ governments – such as those which
plagued Italy in the post-World War II period.
At least initially, we plan to restrict the use of the customary ‘no confidence’
vote at the beginning – and before the end – of the usual five-year term of a
specific Parliament.
III. WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC?
Let me now turn to trends in the Asia Pacific.
We in Southeast Asia yearn for a hundred years of peace – in the region and in
the world – because peace is the only firm foundation for building prosperity in
the poor countries.
How are we to organize this long peace in the Asia Pacific?
First – and most urgently – we need to prevent confrontations between the great
powers in the region.
And, then, we must complete building an Asia-Pacific Community that will
incorporate all those states with legitimate stakes in the region.
This vision is not as utopian as it sounds.
We have before us the example of Western Europe – which has put an end to its
civil wars, and come close to realizing the philosopher’s ideal of “perpetual
peace.”
THE STATUS QUO POWER AND THE RISING POWER
The relationships most crucial to East Asia are those between the United States
and a resurgent China – and between the historical enemies, China and Japan.
Whatever happens, we must avoid a devastating war from breaking out among these
great powers.
The rivalry between the United States and China is reminiscent of that between
Britain and Germany beginning in the late nineteenth century.
Just as the hegemonic maritime power – Britain – tried to contain the rising
land power –Germany- so did Germany try to break Britain’s naval superiority.
Looking forward to 2015, American strategists see Asia as the region with the
greatest risk of large-scale conflict.
Hence they are shifting the weight of US overseas deployments from Europe to the
Pacific, and from Northeast Asia proper broadly southward – toward Okinawa as a
support base for defending Taiwan; the Philippines for its strategic location;
and Vietnam for the access it provides in Southeast Asia, beyond that which
Singapore and Thailand offer.
The Chinese themselves have been redeploying their forces away from the Russian
border.
Even more significantly, China – a land power since the fifteenth-century is
developing its maritime capability.
Already, China’s navy is beginning to challenge American dominance of the China
Sea.
China has also started to leverage its growing economic power to expand its
political influence in Asia – and beyond.
In Japan, China’s policies are breaking down the consensus – expressed in the
concept of a ‘Japan Inc.’ – between Japan’s political and business leaders.
While Japanese business-people see China as a partner, Japanese politicians see
it as a rival, if not as an outright enemy.
BUT THIS HISTORICAL PARALLEL NEED NOT REPEAT ITSELF
It is true that, historically, ‘rising’ powers have rarely risen without
sparking great wars that reshaped the international system.
But such an outcome need not be inevitable – particularly now that war between
great powers has become so destructive as to produce no real winners.
In fact, only 15 years ago, one such great-power rivalry – that between the
United States and the Soviet Union – ended without bloodshed.
So that we can hope great-power rivalries in our time can be settled amicably.
After all, Beijing no longer exports a revolutionary ideology. Its goals are
purely nationalistic – to gain space and respect in international relations, no
less than a leading role in the global economy.
Not only is China’s economy remarkably open to the outside world. It was also a
good neighbor to both Thailand and Indonesia during the financial crisis of
1997-98. It has also taken a modest part in the peacekeeping missions of the
Security Council; and it help initiate the diplomacy dealing with the
nuclear-weapons issues in the Korean Peninsula.
And already China is moving – if by fits and starts – toward an economic
structure based on the rule of law, a more efficient allocation of capital, and
improved corporate governance.
IMPETUS FOR EAST ASIAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
So that I, for one, believe that we can soften the impact of China’s drive for a
central role in East Asia by embedding it in a network of economic and security
relationships – in an Asia-Pacific community that incorporates all the Pacific
Rim countries.
The strongest impetus for East Asian integration came from the agreement in
November 2001 between China and the 10 ASEAN states to complete a free-trade
agreement “within five-ten years.”
That agreement reflects the sharp increase in regional trade – and East Asia’s
emergence as an autonomous growth region.
Scheduled for completion in 2010, ‘ASEAN-10 plus One’ will make up a market of
over 1.7 billion people; a combined GDP of US$ 2.1 trillion; and total external
trade of $ 1.3 trillion.
Obviously, an ASEAN-China free-trade area will be irresistible to both Japan and
South Korea. Neither of these two industrial heavyweights can afford to stay
away from such a large market at their doorsteps.
And the possibility this raises – of an East Asian Economic Grouping made up of
10 ASEAN states plus the three Northeast Asian powers – will generate immediate
political benefits.
Just as the European Union has embedded Germany irrevocably into a European
community, so would an East Asian community channel the energies of the vigorous
peoples of China and Japan.
And since, for South Asia, India is itself becoming an engine of growth, it is
not far-fetched that the whole Asian continent will eventually become
incorporated in a ‘federation of nations’ similar to that being organized by the
European Union.
In fact, the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace – whose 38
member-parliaments include those of Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia,
Central Asia, and West Asia – have accepted a Philippine proposal that it
convert into an Asian Parliamentary Assembly, on the model of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, the beginnings of an Asia-wide parliament.
And the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), which we
founded, composed of the major ruling and opposition parties in Asia, now
entering its sixth year, has endorsed our calls for an Asian currency, an Asian
Monetary Fund first proposed by the Japanese, an Asian Anti-Poverty Fund, and
the launching in October next month of CDI Asia-Pacific, marking the beginning
of a first regional party in Asia.
Now to sum up and conclude.
IV. THE PROMISE OF THE PACIFIC
This early, the twenty-first century has been called the ‘Asia-Pacific Century.’
And it is true the Pacific Basin states have become the driving force of the
global economy.
The promise of the Pacific – in my view – depends on America’s remaining the
core of an open trading region spanning three continents; on America’s remaining
the fulcrum of the hemisphere’s balance of power; and on America’s continuing
guarantee of Asia-Pacific stability against the ambitions of any adventurist
power.
In the past, stability – even a flowering of civilization – under the shield of
American power – has moved from beyond its civil wars to a single community.
We too should use the ‘American peace’ to speed up the economic and political
integration of East Asia and the Asia Pacific.
WE SHOULD USE THE PAX AMERICANA TO SPEED UP THE INTGERATION OF ASIA
And the ground has been laid for this effort – in the network of regional
organizations that links our separate countries.
China itself seems to see its own security and strategic role in promoting
regional integration – in developing an “East Asian identity,” as economic
cooperation among the region’s states extend to culture, politics and mutual
security.
Meanwhile APEC – the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, of which the
United States is a charter member – has set 2020 as its deadline for unifying
economically both the western and eastern shores of the Pacific.
Thus the instruments of an East Asian – and a larger Asia-Pacific – community
have already been laid.
It will be the task of our rising generation of Asia-Pacific leaders whose task
it will be to manage the growing interdependence of our countries – to realize
this dream we share of a world without conflict.
(END)
---------------------------------------------
Reference:
Consul Patricia Ann V. Paez
Press and Information Officer
E-mail: pvpaez@aol.com
Tel. No. 202-467-9400
Mr. Erik Lorenzana (Staff)
E-mail: rppress@verizon.net
Tel. No. 202-467-9432
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Posted on Sunday, October 16 @ 19:52:59 CDT by don |
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