A charm offensive

NANNING — I don’t know if it is coincidental but the International Conference of Asian Political Parties is holding a special forum immediately after President Aquino’s state visit to China. I was among other Asian editors and columnists invited to this historic and beautiful city with a small population, in this humongous country. It has an idyllic setting of a city surrounded by mountains and lakes.

I suppose it is China’s gesture to other countries through their political parties to hear them out and what their country is all about. It is a charm offensive about how it has successfully combined an economic free market and a political authoritarian state.

I asked former Speaker Jose de Venecia, a founding chairman of the ICAPP and co-founder of Lakas-CMD2 what possible role, China with an authoritarian communist government can play in a forum of political parties. You forget that the Communist Party of China is a political party, he said. De Venecia is co-chairman of the standing committee. The other is Hon. Chung Eui-yong, former chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Party (formerly United Democratic Party) of the Republic of Korea.

He reminded me that my late husband, Ambassador Alberto A. Pedrosa (Brussels, EU and Luxembourg) was among those who helped put together the first conference in Manila in 2000. Among the dignitaries who came were Benazir Bhutto and Corazon Aquino.

This year’s forum is being held in Liyuan Resort, Nanning. Once again members of political parties rather than government functionaries will meet to share experiences and seek ways of cooperation despite different ideologies. The advantage of having political parties meet is that they last far longer than government, the forum said.

The 22 members of the standing committee come from Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Vietnam. The two co-chairmen (preside over the Standing Committee) and represent the ICAPP during the period between the General Assemblies.

The itinerary revives the images the Chinese want to project of themselves not only in countries in the region but the rest of the world. There are visits to low-cost housing projects and health centers. It is a showcase of different projects that come from good governance and their efforts to stamp corruption. There will be visits to Xialu Village, health and community centers in Beihu Nanmian, Dongge Youyi and Funing Garden Residential Quarter. 

At the Jiangsu Provincial Commission on Discipline and Inspection local officials will demonstrate how tender and bidding process is conducted.

The visit to Shaoxing Supervision Committee of Villagers and Administration Center will showcase foreign-funded enterprises.

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A few months ago Veronica Pedrosa of Al Jazeera came to Manila to film her personal story. The international network selected the story of her experiences as a child of exile from the Philippines and what led her to become an international broadcaster.

The title of the one hour documentary is Imelda and Me and it screens on 22 September. But it goes further than Imelda. In a brief introduction she says that the theme of her story is the question of impunity in the Philippines. It has a special meaning to her.

Al-Jazeera writes: “In 1971 her family was forced into exile by the Marcos regime after her mother wrote a biography of then First Lady Imelda Marcos. Imelda has never been successfully convicted despite hundreds of cases of corruption and human rights abuses having been brought against her. The story is told after the announcement that the commission (PCGG) which was formed with such flourish after the “Edsa people power revolt” to find the missing millions allegedly stolen by the Marcos’s will soon be abolished.

With the Marcoses rising again in Philippine politics, Veronica tells the story of her family’s exile and their campaign against Marcos rule.”

It is part of a series of nine one-hour films, Al Jazeera Correspondent about the news channel’s correspondents and their stories across the world. These are scheduled for September on Al Jazeera English, and available on the DStv platform.

The Burma Boy by Barnaby Phillips will be broadcast on 1 September. “Some 100,000 African soldiers, taken from British colonies to fight in the jungles of Burma against the Japanese are among the forgotten heroes of World War II. They performed heroically in one of the most brutal theatres of the war. Yet, their contribution has been largely ignored both by the British, and by independent African countries.

 Barnaby Phillips travels to Nigeria, Burma and Japan to find a Nigerian veteran of the war, to talk to those who fought alongside him as well as against him. He even finds the family that saved his life in the jungles of Myanmar.”

A Year in Haiti screens on 15 September. “For the past 12 months Sebastian Walker has documented Haiti’s struggle to recover from the 2010 earthquake. Al Jazeera was the only international broadcaster to set up bureau in Port-au-Prince. Sebastian re-visits many of the people he met at a time when Haiti was deep in crisis.

Al Jazeera makes extensive use of its unrivalled archives. Through personal stories, the documentary examines where things have gone wrong since the international community stepped in and promised to “build Haiti back, better”. The film examines why a system that was designed to help actually ended up exacerbating the misery.”

 The Red Corridor by Imran Garda screens on 29 September. “It’s one of the world’s largest armed conflicts yet remains largely ignored outside India. Maoist rebels are fighting government forces for what, they claim, are their tribal lands.

Imran Garda journeys from Naxalbari, where the movement began, to Chhattisgargh where it has its strongest base. He continues on to West Bengal where the violence was most prevalent. Women who complain of rape by Indian security services are branded Maoists and their claims dismissed.

He meets activists and journalists imprisoned for “helping” or “sympathizing” with the Maoists while focusing on the millions who have been displaced or had their lives destroyed in conflict.