By Guan Juanjuan
My first overseas business trip took me to the Philippines. That was in 1996, when I joined a delegation of broadcast media from China. It was during the two weeks I was there that I learned my given name, Juanjuan, has a different pronunciation in Spanish. But my eye-opening experience did not stop there.
Two things in Manila struck me the most. The first was the traffic jam in the crowded metropolis. At that time, the streets of Beijing had not been completely taken over by cars and it was still a city of bicycles.
For every official event we went to in Manila, we had to be on the road well ahead of schedule, as the traffic was so unpredictable. I learned from our hosts that back in 1995, Manila had introduced driving restrictions based on license plate numbers. Cars were banned from entering metropolitan Manila for a set period of time one day each week, with the day determined by the last number on the license plate. Twelve years after my first trip to Manila, Beijing started a similar policy.
The second moment that struck me during my 1996 trip to Manila is when we visited the national radio station. The DJ on one of its live music channels invited me to join him on the show, and we chatted for about two minutes between the songs. The studio was so small I had to stand in front of the microphone. Back then, music programs were niche in China, and live radio was a really big deal, and very nerve-wrecking. Everything was so carefully planned, we would never randomly invite a visitor into the studio moments before going on air. That light-hearted moment made me think about radio from a different perspective.
In the two decades that followed, my path did not cross with the Philippines, although I’d pay it attention when the country made international headlines. I saw that the relationship between the countries had taken several dramatic turns for the worse, especially over the South China Sea dispute. When it hit its lowest point, I kept thinking about the Filipinos I met in Manila in 1996, and over the years in Beijing and elsewhere. They were always friendly, and when we argued over hot-button issues they were always understanding. They left me with the hope that the turning point in our countries’ relationship was right around the corner.
That turning point arrived in 2016 with the election of Rodrigo Duterte as the new president of the Philippines. Under the guidance of President Duterte and China’s President Xi Jinping, bilateral relations have steadily improved. In 2017, China became the largest trading partner of the Philippines, with trade valued at 51.28 billion U.S. dollars. Chinese people love tropical fruits, which is why last year we imported 900,000 tons of pineapple, mango, coconut, and banana from the Philippines.
In May, my path crossed with the Philippines once again when I took my second trip to Manila, as part of a delegation from the All-China Journalists Association. Manila was the same city in name only: 22 years on, it was bigger, more crowed, and bustling with more skyscrapers. But even so, it didn’t surprise me like it once did. Rather, this time I was struck by how similar it was to Beijing. On the streets and in the shops, many people had smart phones - China’s Internet penetration rate is about 58 percent of its total population while in the Philippines it was 63 percent – and “to scan a QR code and pay” was also trending. Young people in Manila loved the K-pop group EXO just as their counterparts did in Beijing. And Chinese television series such as fantasy romance drama “Eternal Love” would become instant hits on the Internet.
Cooperation was the watchword in our conversations with people from the Philippines’ National Press Club. Wherever our delegation went, enthusiastic and bright officials and professionals presented tons of ideas for prospective projects for media organizations from both countries.
Finally, all is well in China-Philippines relations. At the recent China International Import Expo in Shanghai, companies from the Philippines signed deals that will see 100 million U.S. dollars of Filipino goods sold to China. And after three trips to China by President Duterte, President Xi arrives in Manila today for a state visit, the first of its kind in 13 years. It’s high time that China and the Philippines recognize the strengths in their relationship, and find new ways to work towards a brighter future together.
(About the Author: Guan Juanjuan is a reporter with CRI News Service, China Media Group. The article reflects the author’s own views.)
