Albright avoids remarks that will provoke Duterte

This file photo taken on March 30, 2017, shows former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. AFP

Throughout her diplomatic career, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wore pins and brooches as signs of her moods and opinions for her foreign counterparts.

She has already chosen the pin she will wear should she meet President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I think I’ll wear the pin of a very active man with a loudspeaker,” Albright replied when asked after dissecting

international politics at the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) Forum on Global Governance and World Economy on Wednesday.

Albright’s collection of pins and brooches has been exhibited several times, with the items described as reflecting her opinions on various international issues and personages she had dealt with.

Brooch for PH

For the ANC forum, she wore a brooch shaped like the sun and made of Philippine indigenous materials “to show my respect.”

Careful not to comment on Mr. Duterte’s policy of cozying up to China and Russia while sidelining the United States, Albright called the relationship between her country and the Philippines a “very basic and crucial one, with a long tradition.”

“We need to treat each other with respect,” she said, adding that countries can have relationships with a number of different countries without these having to be a “zero-sum relationship.”

She said that while the United States was “deeply concerned” over China’s construction of artificial islands and military facilities in the South China Sea, countries in the region, including the United States, had to do a “balancing act because we all recognize the importance of close ties with China and no one wants to see the military escalation of this conflict.”

West Philippine Sea

She drew applause when she referred to the disputed territory as West Philippine Sea, after last year’s ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone against China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea.

Mr. Duterte has shelved the arbitral ruling, preferring to mend relations with China, which in turn promised $24 billion in loans and investments in Philippine infrastructure projects.

“I can understand the complications in terms of some competition of countries in the region. I think you should call it the West Philippine Sea,” Albright said when asked about the implications of setting aside the ruling.

“The timeline is important. And I hope it’s in the back of people’s minds and discussions. I hope the decision is not OBE, or overtaken by events. It is there and I think it will be useful,” she said.

The audience included Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Senior Undersecretary for policy Enrique Manalo.

Cayetano was with his sister, former Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Diplomatic career

Albright is the first woman to become US secretary of state, serving in the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001.

Before working at the US Department of State, she was US permanent representative to the United Nations, serving from 1993 to 1996.