Mature or amateur? Chinese media offer conflicting views of PNoy

Is President Benigno Aquino III mature or an amateur? Is he being ignorant when it comes to history, or “behaving like the only adult in the room?" Both views have been found in Chinese media.

On Wednesday, a commentary on Chinese government-owned news agency Xinhua called Aquino an ignorant and “amateurish” politician following his comments comparing China's conduct in its territorial disputes to Nazi imperialism.

In the commentary, Xinhua writer Ming Jinwei said Aquino's comparison of China to Nazi Germany “exposed his true color as an amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality.”

The article came out after Aquino, in a New York Times interview, related the territorial feud between China and the Philippines to the West's failure to support Czechoslovakia against Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s demands for the Sudetenland in 1938.

Ming said Aquino, “who has taken an inflammatory approach while dealing with maritime disputes with China, has never been a great candidate for a wise statesman in the region.”

It also said it was “very unfortunate” that Aquino is “still trying to create animosity with China” even after the country “has successfully reached critical common ground with regional countries such as Brunei and Vietnam over the [South China Sea] issue in the past year.”

“Territorial disputes are always sensitive issues. No one expects them to be resolved overnight. Thus it is important for political leaders to sound rational and reasonable when they address them,” Ming said.

The Philippines is locked in a long-running territorial rift with China over parts of the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. The Philippines refers to parts of the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.
 
The Philippines has filed a case against China before an international tribunal to question the legality Beijing's massive claim.

Sane voice?

But a separate commentary on the South China Morning Post on Thursday said Aquino may actually be the “only sane voice” amid the “madness.”

In the opinion piece, writer Alex Lo said many Hong Kong people may despise Aquino over the 2010 Manila hostage crisis, but that his non-retaliation for sanctions imposed by the administrative region showed that he is “behaving like the only adult in the room.”

“Why should Aquino worsen a diplomatic spat that makes no sense in the first place, especially when he is already embroiled in a serious fight with China over maritime claims? Any sensible government should try to de-escalate it,” he said.

He even went as far as to say that Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is “needlessly politicizing the incident” in a “desperate attempt at populist politics.”

Aside from Aquino, Lo's commentary also praised Filipino lawmakers for proving “to be more reasonable and professional” than Chinese lawmakers by not supporting calls to retaliate against the Hong Kong sanctions.

He added that although Hong Kong must help the victims of the hostage-taking incident, it must not “ensnare the whole city in a diplomatic spat.”

“Imagine if the killings happened in Washington or Beijing where the taking of hostages by deranged individuals is not unknown. Do you think Barack Obama or Xi Jinping would apologize or even bother to negotiate?” Lo asked rhetorically.

PNoy's 'attack' vs. China

But the Xinhua commentary said Aquino's “latest attack” on China may have “squandered” the opportunity to further improve relations between the two countries after the Asian giant extended “a helping hand” to the Philippines during the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda.

It even said that Aquino “conveniently chose to ignore” the “very fact” that the Philippine government has “adopted a confrontational approach by trying to snatching [sic] islands and waters that have long been an unalienable part of Chinese territories since ancient times.”

“Despite lame comparisons by Philippine and Japanese leaders, the international community cannot ignore the fact that China has long chosen a path of peaceful development,” it said, adding that China's claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea have “a sound historical foundation.”

“China, instead of bullying its smaller neighbors as Manila has claimed, also seeks to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation on an equal basis,” it said.

So instead of coming up with “lame historical comparisons,” the commentary said “a professional and mature Philippine leader could do more good to his country by seeking to resolve the territorial disputes with China through dialogue and consultation."

“After all, the Philippines can enjoy even greater benefits from a peaceful and prosperous China when bilateral relations are anchored by steady hands,” it said.

Not meant to offend China

Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr., however, has already said that Aquino's comments were not meant to offend China.

He explained that Aquino likes reading military history so he ended up citing stories related to it.
 
“As a storyteller and as a conversationalist, the President often gives details of a particular situation. So it could happen that he was simply citing a fact na merong ganoong incident,” Coloma said.

On Thursday, however, Coloma seemed to be backing Aquino's message.

“Mahalagang matuto mula sa aral ng kasaysayan at gawin itong gabay sa pagkilos. Ang aral para sa lahat ng mga bansang malaya ay ito: Kailangan ang pagkakaisa sa pagtataguyod ng katuwiran. Dapat umiral ang prinsipyong 'right is might', hindi yung 'might is right'," he told reporters in a text message. — KBK/HS, GMA News