Post by jo on Aug 6, 2023 23:58:00 GMT -5
We usually remember European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the elegant lady carried in Hugh Jackman's arms a long time ago when Hugh was promoting the movie "AUSTRALIA". We recently saw her helping promote the goals of GLOBAL CITIZEN.
She was in Manila on a recent visit. A local media ( former national political leader) columnist wrote about her visit:
A message from Europe
Opinion by Francisco S. Tatad
© Provided by The Manila Times
EUROPEAN Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently visited Manila for a couple of days, and we were gratified to listen to her message. She was the first European high official of her rank to visit in 60 years; hopefully, her visit would impact Philippine-European relations for the next 60 years.
The 65-year-old stateswoman came to Malacañang dressed in a simple day jacket, a huge relief from our recent overdose of overdressed women at the President's State of the Nation Address (SONA). And she spoke in plain, simple, unaccented English. It was a speechwriter's and editor's delight. Clear ideas, simple words, short sentences. Her understated elegance and gravitas lent greater weight to her message.
She made five points, all intended to take bilateral cooperation to the next level and create a broad road map for the Philippine-EU partnership. These included trade, climate change, digitalization, critical raw materials and global security. The first four points contained what looked like grants, but the fifth seemed to propose a condition for the first four.
On trade, the European Union is already the Philippines' fourth-largest trading partner and its first foreign investor, von der Leyen said. She lauded the two trading partners' decision to relaunch negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA), which she said has great potential for growth and jobs.
"Whether it is on the European continent or here in Southeast Asia, we have learned the hard way the cost of economic dependencies. We need to diversify our supply lines and make them resilient. This is the lesson we have learned, and that is what we call de-risking our trade relations. [An FTA] can be a springboard for new technology cooperation to modernize the broader economy," she said.
"De-risking" is the new buzzword on how to deal with China's continued economic rise. Many in the West see China as a threat to the world economic and political order that must be "contained." Containment, in their view, can be achieved by "decoupling" the Chinese and US global economies, which would deprive China of the American market. Many others, on the other hand, see this as an extremist view and simply advocate limiting China's access to advanced technology deemed crucial to US national security.
The term for this is "de-risking." On her recent trip to Beijing, US Treasury chief Janet Yellen declared that a decoupling of the world's two largest economies would be destabilizing for the global economy, and would be virtually impossible to undertake. The preferred word is "de-risking." Thus von der Leyen said the EU would not decouple but diversify.
Related video: European Commission Pres. Ursula von der Leyen, mainit na tinanggap sa Malacañang (Dailymotion)
On climate change, von der Leyen said the EU will provide financing, expertise and access to technology to support the Philippine transition to a circular economy and its generation of green energy. The EU and its member states will contribute about €0.5 billion to this green initiative, she said. And support the Philippines' fight against climate change with its so-called eyes in the sky, the Copernicus satellite. The trading partners are currently setting up a so-called Copernicus data mirror site within the Philippine Space Agency; they have also agreed to boost the flow of Earth observation data between them — a first in space cooperation in Asia, she said.
For her third point, von der Leyen said the EU will play an active part in turning the Philippines into a digital hub in the region. Global Gateway, the EU's global initiative in sustainable infrastructure, will play a crucial role in this, together with European companies that will be asked to invest in the Philippines. "We will work together on fast and reliable connectivity with submarine cables, on cybersecurity training, and on the deployment and development of 5G," von der Leyen said.
"We are also working on a possible extension of a submarine cable that we plan to build via the Arctic route to Japan. This cable could go all the way down to Southeast Asia, and we believe that it could go via the Philippines. That would give you a strategic position on an infrastructure that could be instrumental both to your prosperity and national security," von der Leyen said.
This must have been music to the ears of Marcos Jr. who in his last SONA declared that "digitalization is the call of today, not the future."
Von der Leyen then proposed a close partnership in the exploitation of critical raw materials, which she said are needed for "our clean and digital future." This entails tapping the local mining industry to help secure the global supply of critical raw materials. Here the EU will have to invest not only in extraction but "across the whole value chain," she said.
Von der Leyen then offered maritime security cooperation through information sharing, shared threat assessments and capacity-building for the Coast Guard and National Coast Watch Center. Then she asked the Philippines to join the Western bandwagon against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine shakes the international order. It is in violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law such as territorial integrity and sovereignty. This is why Europe supports Ukraine's brave fight against the aggressor. Because the illegal use of force cannot be tolerated — not in Ukraine, not in the Indo-Pacific. Security in Europe and security in the Indo-Pacific is indivisible," she said.
We have heard this formulation before. It has been used to promote the possible expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Asia and the creation of a second Ukraine in the Indo-Pacific region. At the last Asean foreign ministers conference in Jakarta, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against any effort to make the Asean a proxy of any party in the conflict between China and the US.
Von der Leyen's first four points contain what look like grants — freebies — to the Philippine government. Her proposal that the Philippines join the campaign against Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the only place where the EU president asks for something in return from the Philippine government. But the invitation is so skillfully juxtaposed with the first four points that one cannot easily say that compliance with the fifth point is a condition sine qua non for the grant of the four. But it could very well be.
To clarify any doubts, von der Leyen would do well to make it abundantly clear that the offer contained in her first four points would stand even if Marcos did not share her view on the "indivisibility" of security in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific.
This is a lady global leader who speaks with strong messages but done in a firm and relatively non-challenging soft style. The kind of world leaders that we can look forward in the global leadership. She is not the only lady leader in leadership roles. There is the United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde (former IMF Head) and the new IMF President Kristalina Georgieva. Here in Asia, we have seen the rise of women in political leadership roles.
Jo
She was in Manila on a recent visit. A local media ( former national political leader) columnist wrote about her visit:
A message from Europe
Opinion by Francisco S. Tatad
© Provided by The Manila Times
EUROPEAN Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently visited Manila for a couple of days, and we were gratified to listen to her message. She was the first European high official of her rank to visit in 60 years; hopefully, her visit would impact Philippine-European relations for the next 60 years.
The 65-year-old stateswoman came to Malacañang dressed in a simple day jacket, a huge relief from our recent overdose of overdressed women at the President's State of the Nation Address (SONA). And she spoke in plain, simple, unaccented English. It was a speechwriter's and editor's delight. Clear ideas, simple words, short sentences. Her understated elegance and gravitas lent greater weight to her message.
She made five points, all intended to take bilateral cooperation to the next level and create a broad road map for the Philippine-EU partnership. These included trade, climate change, digitalization, critical raw materials and global security. The first four points contained what looked like grants, but the fifth seemed to propose a condition for the first four.
On trade, the European Union is already the Philippines' fourth-largest trading partner and its first foreign investor, von der Leyen said. She lauded the two trading partners' decision to relaunch negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA), which she said has great potential for growth and jobs.
"Whether it is on the European continent or here in Southeast Asia, we have learned the hard way the cost of economic dependencies. We need to diversify our supply lines and make them resilient. This is the lesson we have learned, and that is what we call de-risking our trade relations. [An FTA] can be a springboard for new technology cooperation to modernize the broader economy," she said.
"De-risking" is the new buzzword on how to deal with China's continued economic rise. Many in the West see China as a threat to the world economic and political order that must be "contained." Containment, in their view, can be achieved by "decoupling" the Chinese and US global economies, which would deprive China of the American market. Many others, on the other hand, see this as an extremist view and simply advocate limiting China's access to advanced technology deemed crucial to US national security.
The term for this is "de-risking." On her recent trip to Beijing, US Treasury chief Janet Yellen declared that a decoupling of the world's two largest economies would be destabilizing for the global economy, and would be virtually impossible to undertake. The preferred word is "de-risking." Thus von der Leyen said the EU would not decouple but diversify.
Related video: European Commission Pres. Ursula von der Leyen, mainit na tinanggap sa Malacañang (Dailymotion)
On climate change, von der Leyen said the EU will provide financing, expertise and access to technology to support the Philippine transition to a circular economy and its generation of green energy. The EU and its member states will contribute about €0.5 billion to this green initiative, she said. And support the Philippines' fight against climate change with its so-called eyes in the sky, the Copernicus satellite. The trading partners are currently setting up a so-called Copernicus data mirror site within the Philippine Space Agency; they have also agreed to boost the flow of Earth observation data between them — a first in space cooperation in Asia, she said.
For her third point, von der Leyen said the EU will play an active part in turning the Philippines into a digital hub in the region. Global Gateway, the EU's global initiative in sustainable infrastructure, will play a crucial role in this, together with European companies that will be asked to invest in the Philippines. "We will work together on fast and reliable connectivity with submarine cables, on cybersecurity training, and on the deployment and development of 5G," von der Leyen said.
"We are also working on a possible extension of a submarine cable that we plan to build via the Arctic route to Japan. This cable could go all the way down to Southeast Asia, and we believe that it could go via the Philippines. That would give you a strategic position on an infrastructure that could be instrumental both to your prosperity and national security," von der Leyen said.
This must have been music to the ears of Marcos Jr. who in his last SONA declared that "digitalization is the call of today, not the future."
Von der Leyen then proposed a close partnership in the exploitation of critical raw materials, which she said are needed for "our clean and digital future." This entails tapping the local mining industry to help secure the global supply of critical raw materials. Here the EU will have to invest not only in extraction but "across the whole value chain," she said.
Von der Leyen then offered maritime security cooperation through information sharing, shared threat assessments and capacity-building for the Coast Guard and National Coast Watch Center. Then she asked the Philippines to join the Western bandwagon against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine shakes the international order. It is in violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law such as territorial integrity and sovereignty. This is why Europe supports Ukraine's brave fight against the aggressor. Because the illegal use of force cannot be tolerated — not in Ukraine, not in the Indo-Pacific. Security in Europe and security in the Indo-Pacific is indivisible," she said.
We have heard this formulation before. It has been used to promote the possible expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Asia and the creation of a second Ukraine in the Indo-Pacific region. At the last Asean foreign ministers conference in Jakarta, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against any effort to make the Asean a proxy of any party in the conflict between China and the US.
Von der Leyen's first four points contain what look like grants — freebies — to the Philippine government. Her proposal that the Philippines join the campaign against Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the only place where the EU president asks for something in return from the Philippine government. But the invitation is so skillfully juxtaposed with the first four points that one cannot easily say that compliance with the fifth point is a condition sine qua non for the grant of the four. But it could very well be.
To clarify any doubts, von der Leyen would do well to make it abundantly clear that the offer contained in her first four points would stand even if Marcos did not share her view on the "indivisibility" of security in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific.
This is a lady global leader who speaks with strong messages but done in a firm and relatively non-challenging soft style. The kind of world leaders that we can look forward in the global leadership. She is not the only lady leader in leadership roles. There is the United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde (former IMF Head) and the new IMF President Kristalina Georgieva. Here in Asia, we have seen the rise of women in political leadership roles.
Jo