Last Thursday, I managed to attend one of those gatherings which in many respects has given me not only beneficial information but also served as a valuable input to my personal data bank.

Assessing RP-China Relations in the Age of Multilateralism was the thematic topic of the symposium held the whole-day at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati. The crowd was composed of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China, members of the academe and foreign community, business leaders, and officers of a foundation.

The attendees were given the chance to take a closer insight about China as a market and as an investor, and the role it plays in the ASEAN region, particularly, in the Philippines.

Another reason why gatherings like that proved interesting was the profusion of facts and figures articulated by the speakers who are experts and authoritative on the topics they discussed.

Ambassador Li JinJun of the Peoples Republic of China, for example, explained how his country considers the Philippines a very important partner in development. The areas that enhance vigorously that relation are investment, tourism, trade and culture.

He noted that last year some 100,000 Chinese tourists came to visit, twice the number of those who came in 2004, with each spending an average of US,000.

As a market for goods and services, PROC buys those US0 billion a year. As regards foreign investments there, some US0 billion poured in from l996 to 2004.

China has a population of 1.3 billion. And every year some 10 million jobs are opened.

Dr. Reuben Mondejar, a Filipino who has been teaching at the City University of Hong Kong for the past l4 years, talked on New Equation in China-ASEAN Geopolitics: Any Philippine Role?

He said China is the new gravitational center in geopolitics, economics and, perhaps, even in military, in the ASEAN. "Japan is finished as a leader in the region," the professor asserted.

China and ASEAN are now mutual inter-investors. At the end of last year, China’s investments in the region accounted for about 8 percent of total China investments overseas. On the other hand, ASEAN had invested in 22,075 projects in PROC, with Singapore as the top investor (72 percent), Mondejar said.

What about the role of the Philippines?

"For the moment there is no significant immediate role. Once the Philippines recovers its significance in ASEAN, it can play even a substantial role, Mondejar noted. "But Indonesia bears watching" as a leader in the region.

Other speakers: Paul G. Schafer, resident representative, Hanns Seidel Foundation; Ambassador Jose V. Romero Jr.., president Philippine Council for Foreign Relations; DFA Usec. Esteban B. Conejos Jr.; Prof. Herman Kraft, Political Science Department, UP; Ambassador Donald Dee, PCCI president; Francis Chua, president, FFCCCI; Bernard Duc, board of advisers, PCFR; Dr. Rainer Cepperth, deputy general manager, Hanns Seidel Foundation; Prof. Jose David Lapuz, UNESCO commissioner and executive vice president, PCFR; Dr. Natalia Morales, vice president, PCFR; Dr. Estrella Solidum, vice president and director of Policy Studies and Research, PCFR; Dr. Federico Macaranas, Ambassador Jaime Bautista and Ambassador Benjamin Domingo, moderators.

Among those in the audience were former Press Secretary Greg Cendaña, chairman of the Philets Foundation; lawyer Raffy Morales, Ambassador Pete Chan, PR practitioner Manny Azarcon, and journalist Vergel Santos.

The sponsors were The Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, Center for Research and Communication, and Hanns Seidel Foundation.