Seaside
At 9:00 AM Ambassador [Richard] Murphy came to my home at 21, 2nd Street, Paranaque (Seaside) to deliver to me the text of a letter of President [James] Carter informing me of his projected announcement 9 PM Washington time, which would be 10 AM Manila time today, of the normalization of relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
The first question that entered my mind was about Taiwan about which he says “I am assuring the Taiwanese that we intend to maintain strong people-to-people relations including a full range of trade and economic relations. Normalization will be carried out in an orderly manner that will give confidence to all our friends in ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] that this step will enhance the security and stability of Asia.”
I hope Pres. Chiang Ching Kuo does not react violently in pique or spite by allowing accommodation to Russia in Taiwan—say in trade, shipping, fishing and the like.
I am certain, however, that this is an American plan to solve their Korean involvement, strengthen NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] and Europe and at the same time convert the Chinese threat into an asset in one simple blow.
Korea is America’s and Japan’s single vulnerability in Asia. It is their principal obsession in Asian strategy and tactics. In keeping, and fighting with, ground forces in Korea, they have committed the serious blunder of committing their ground forces in the mainland of China. Against this their strategists including MacArthur, [Reichaner?] and now [Breozinski?] have warmed.
Accordingly, Pres. Carter had initiated the move to withdraw the U.S. troops from Korea.
I am certain that some kind of an understanding must have been struck between China and the U.S. on Korea. In all probability it would be a promise by China not to support North Korea in its aggressive designs but instead to hold it back and to allow the two Koreas to
Official Gazette for December 16, 1978: THE PRESIDENT assured the nation’s workers that if there should be any inflationary threat “the President, on his own initiative, will immediately raise the minimum wage in accordance with the demands of the economy.” He recalled that he ordered government economists earlier in the year to have a continuing study of income and wages to determine whether to increase the minimum wage in one move or in separate stages. He spoke before delegates to the first triennial convention of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
SOME 10,000 children representing 50 different institutions received bags full of holiday goodies from the First Lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, at the traditional Christmas festival for children held at the Folk Arts theater. She hosts the festival every December to bring holiday cheer to the city’s less privileged children.
peacefully settle their conflict and in turn the U.S. must have promised to withdraw its forces in South Korea.
Thus they both get what they want in that peninsula.
As to Europe, the fact that the massive armed forces of China will now be modernized will now compel the Soviet Union to attend to the Asian front more. This will, of course, lessen the threat and pressure by the Soviet Union against Europe and NATO. The threat is implied that any attack by Russia on the European front will mean Chinese opportunity for aggressiveness at her back.
The U.S. has thrown at her, notwithstanding her disavowals, the specter of a double front that haunted and ultimately destroyed Napoleon and Hitler.
China which use to be a threat to the U.S. and partly caused the American debacle in Vietnam has become a substantial asset to the U.S.
At the same time the U.S. now has an entré into the huge Chinese market that could have been monopolized by Japan and European countries.
Cheap Chinese labor will now openly compete with Southeast Asian manpower. The smaller Asian countries will in five years suffer from this development in trade unless we can refine our economic effort so as to complement rather that conflict with the Japanese and Chinese productive effort.
This means specialization and higher quality rather than massive production.
The military bases used by the U.S. in the Philippines become more urgent to us and a necessity to the U.S.
They should be kept so as to curb any adventurism of the Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese and Russians. I believe the U.S. also realizes this.
The danger of a nuclear war has lessened with this stroke of American diplomacy. It is in such a nuclear war that these bases could become our Achilles heel.
Subversion and of less probability, conventional war becomes the danger. I would say that the latter option has become blanketed out if the Americans keep their bases in the Philippines.
And with our experience in the last six years, we can attend to the first.
So we are now more secure—both ASEAN and the Philippines. At least for the next ten years. .
Now we can rechannel some of our resources from security to development. Not immediately because of the southern problem but gradually and gracefully.
The disturbing thought is that the United States has agreed to allow Asia to become the sphere of influence of China and Japan. I hope it does not tum out to be another Yalta and a sanguine Roosevelt.