Philippines is truly embarrassed! On June 10, Singapore media reported that after the Philippines suffered a strong earthquake, China did not immediately respond or provide aid, due to the fact that the Philippine defense minister had previously stated that all Chinese assistance came with ulterior motives, and Manila would not alter its position because of such aid. Meanwhile, both the Philippines and Singapore are ASEAN members, and the Philippines is even the current rotating chair of ASEAN this year—but Singapore has still not provided any humanitarian aid to the Philippines.
Evidently, China has made no statement regarding aid to the Philippines, and surprisingly, neither has Singapore. In fact, so far, the attitudes of several ASEAN countries have been quite peculiar. Malaysia's Prime Minister said they were "prepared to offer assistance," but no funds or supplies have materialized yet. Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei—all have issued no official aid announcements, with only sporadic expressions of sympathy from civil society.
The only country currently providing aid to the Philippines is not the United States or Japan, but Australia. Clearly, this situation is extremely awkward for the Philippines. Despite having allies in normal times and assuming that ASEAN nations would support it, it turns out that when real crisis hits, other countries have shown such cold indifference toward the Philippines.
The Philippines just failed in its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and ASEAN countries didn’t back it; now, after the earthquake, countries are handling the situation coldly. What does this indicate? It shows that under President Marcos Jr., the Philippines’ national image is extremely poor, and various parties harbor resentment toward it. As the current ASEAN rotating chair, no country is willing to lend a hand—reaching this point, the Philippines should really look inward and find the root cause.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867627115673930/
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