China’s new leader Xi Jinping: A boon for PHL-Sino trade?

Filipino-Chinese business leaders are optimistic the impending accession of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to the position of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party will boost trade relations between China and the Philippines. Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to step down as General Secretary at the end of the ongoing 18th National Congress of the CPC, with Xi succeeding him. This will make Xi China’s de facto leader, despite Hu remaining as President for at least several more months. “The Philippines and China share long trade relations that date back to thousands of years,” Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) president Tan Ching told GMA News Online. “Over the years, we have increased our economic cooperation and trade. We are hopeful that Mr. Xi Jinping will allow increase in trade between our two countries.” Tan believes that the Chinese government, under Xi’s leadership, will foster more investment in information technology, mining, agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure. He also sees China importing more seafood, mineral resources, and agriculture products like banana, mangoes and pineapple from the Philippines. ‘Building on what we already have’ Philippine officials look at the situation with cautious optimism. Malacañang last Thursday voiced hopes for stronger ties with the US and China at a time when both countries were making their choices for leader: in the US, Barack Obama was re-elected President; in China, Xi will assume leadership of the Communist Party. Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said it was too early to say how Xi would affect Philippine-China relations because it would take a year for the whole transition to complete. While China is now the world’s second-biggest economy and gaining fast on the US, Xi will have to address the perceived “widening gap between rich and poor, rising unrest about issues like pollution and land seizures, and a slowing economy that needs reform,” a report from the Palace said. Xi will also face other contentious issues such as food safety, health care, and law enforcement, Lacierda said. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez last Friday hoped that “with the…leadership change that is about to happen, we will be able to enhance our relationship with China and improve our political ties with them as well as economic, cultural and people-to-people exchange. So we are looking at building on whatever we have already and make sure it will be for the mutual benefit of [our] people.”   Hernandez, however, would not comment on the speech made by Hu that China intends to become a “maritime power” in line with its economic clout, and to assert its territorial claims. Last month, Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas met with Xi at the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning and discussed with him the territorial issues between the two countries over areas of the West Philippine Sea, including a months long standoff in April over Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal. “I hope this [situation] will not appear again and again, allowing bilateral relations to return to the track of normal development,” Xi reportedly told Roxas. “China-Philippine relations have encountered some difficulties. However, through effective communication between the two sides, the situation has already eased.” Asked what he thinks Xi's stand is on the territorial issue, Tan said, "At this moment, we don't know yet, but knowing him, he is a very peaceful person. I believe that his father who was a political leader of China is moderate.” China’s new leader Who is Xi Jinping, and how would his leadership affect diplomatic and trade relations between China and the Philippines? The 59-year-old Xi, who was formally endorsed as the Party’s Secretary General on Nov. 8, began his political career as a local party official in Hebei province in 1982. It sounds like a humble enough beginning, but Xi also had an advantage: his father was a known revolutionary figure who fought alongside Mao Zedong and who became a senior Party official in the 1980s, around the same time the younger Xi began his political career. In 2007 Xi Jinping made his way up the ranks to become a member of the CPC Central Committee, acquiring along the way pop star Peng Liyuan for a wife. They have a daughter, Xi Mingze, who is currently studying at Harvard. Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, was known to be relatively liberal and spoke out against the use of violence in suppressing the Tiananmen Square revolt in 2009. Xi himself, while widely reported as charming and affable, is also known for being a “straight talker.” In Mexico in 2009, he slammed critics of China's growing power, saying, "Some foreigners with full bellies and nothing better to do engage in finger-pointing at us.” He belied accusations most commonly hurled at his country: "China does not export revolution; second, it does not export famine and poverty; and third, it does not mess around with you. So what else is there to say?" He was also quoted as saying that he would "smash" attempts to destabilize Tibet. A BBC analyst has described Xi as supporting state-owned industries and having close ties to the military, having been a military service member in his youth. Despite some of his more nationalistic statements, Xi has also revealed a fondness for the West, at least some parts of it. In 1985, he went to the US as part of a delegation looking into farming technology, and stayed with a family in Muscatine, Iowa. In February, Xi made a return trip to the small Midwestern farming town to visit the family whom he called “old friends.” Already slated to succeed Hu at the top of the CPC, Xi was greeted with much fanfare – and accompanied by press and protesters condemning China’s stance on Tibet. Investments and exports According to the National Statistical Coordination Board, Philippine imports from China came to around $19.8 billion from 2007 to 2010. Philippine exports to China amounted to around $16.6 billion in the same period. During President Benigno Aquino III’s visit to China last year, both countries aspired to $60 billion in trade by 2016. The business community is working so that the relationship would be more favorable to the Philippines. Tan says the chamber encourages investment in the Philippines in various fields and “has been very active in promoting Filipino products in various trade expos and business matchings in China.” Tan also cited the ASEAN-China Free-Trade Agreement. “[It] has trade benefits like tariff reduction or elimination which makes Philippine exports more competitive. We must continue to explore trade opportunities with ASEAN countries and China.” — BM/VS, GMA News