Real Work of Diplomacy

By W. Scott Thompson and Oliver Geronilla

It is, of course, gratifying when a great power diplomat goes around the country to which he or she is assigned saying all the things the object-folks like to hear. And it's almost irrelevant to the work of diplomacy.

It's worse; it confuses roles. The work of a diplomat is different. It's to be a highly competent reporter on events and nuance in the assigned country; even in special and important events, an interlocutor valuable.

Sometimes ambassadors aren't liked at first, but if they have the ear of their own president, in the end they'll benefit the country to which they are assigned far better, in tuning in, for example, the American foreign policy establishment not only to what is going on but what can be accomplished between the two countries. Kristie Kenney, who has just left her post as U.S. ambassador in Manila, could do none of that.

America has tended to send too many used-car dealers, and the like, out as ambassadors, in gratitude for campaign contributions. It works in both directions. Third World countries classically send to the great capitals either enemies they wish to be rid of, or nonentities, so that the hero at home can make ― and carry out ― his own foreign policy. Exceptions abound.

The best envoy Manila ever had in Washington was a man who classically illustrates the 17th century maxim, that a diplomat is an ``honest man sent out to lie for his country.'' Ernesto Maceda at least illustrates half of that. But he did wonders for the Philippines in working the U.S. Senate and was great eyes and ears to Erap Estrada.

At their best, diplomats can find where interests of both powers overlap, where otherwise conflict is pending or imminent. There was room for ample misunderstanding during the base withdrawal negotiations in the early 1990s, but American and Filipino diplomats ably resolved the problems.

Both sides could have played to the galleries and got plaudits among their own people, but then they would have failed to serve their country's interests. The close working relationship President Fidel V. Ramos had with American Ambassador John D. Negroponte, later the head of all U.S. intelligence, enabled the parties to resolve potentially serious problems ― like the assassination of Col. Nick Rowe.

The departing American ambassador provides a classic example of what diplomacy isn't. Mrs. Kenney was and is an unknown in Washington, where Filipinos might wish their message to be heard. She was media-savvy ― in the Philippines, as an Inquirer article suggests, to the point of keeping her embassy support structure zipped.

She didn't want to hear what her staff reported and even less that they should be seen and heard in public. She crowned a very minor career by playing on Filipino sensibilities and susceptibilities where dealing with America is involved.

In the real business of diplomacy her act will be easy to follow. The new American ambassador, unlike Kristie Kenney, has been a genuine player in Washington, unlike the former, who became a player for the Philippine armed forces' vanity, perhaps, and in far-flung villages.

Compare that ― if Filipinos wish to get their point across in Washington ― to Harry Thomas, who has been Director of the Department of State's Operations Center. That's about as close to the real action as a career diplomat usually gets in America's Foreign Service establishment.

Thomas comes to Manila in the great tradition of highly qualified and well-known American emissaries to the Philippines, dominated in the list by one of the most distinguished diplomats ever, Charles Bohlen. But Bohlen had worthy successors, with distinguished careers all over the world: one thinks of, Armacost, Negroponte, Byroade, Bosworth, Blair, Mennen Williams and significant others.

Kenney, alas, will be remembered as the ambassador who deeply misinformed Washington about her mission. She made the cardinal and felonious error of becoming President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's errand girl to DC, rather than DC's eyes and ears in Manila.

There is potential historical significance to this, insofar as two presidents were unaware of the depth of despair in the Philippines as Arroyo dragged her country lower and lower in international estimates.

As the Filipino president sought to side track the constitution to save her skin, Kenney was reporting that all was well in Manila. After all, Arroyo and General Eduardo R. Ermita had told her so.

We can understand why remote villages would appreciate the attentions of an American ambassador; more especially an armed forces chief seeking legitimacy; but it is odd when the writers of the Philippine Republic's most cosmopolitan newspaper miss the point.

Alas, the Philippines has been too much off the Washington radar screen, other than for its role in the so-called war on terror. It didn't notice what was going on; and how would it, given the misreporting from the great building on the bay?

The new ambassador signals a shift by Barack Obama that he's taking the Philippines seriously, appointing a skilled diplomat who has served in sensitive posts like India and Nigeria, who was director general of the U.S. Foreign Service not to mention executive secretary of the Department of State, through whose office all high diplomatic work there flows, and who is highly regarded, rather than unknown, throughout official Washington.

Diplomacy is too serious to be left to amateurs, including those among the professional staff who don't know their business or are driven by vanity. Though representation ― attending fiestas and the like ― is a nice thing to do, it's not where it's at. Where it's at is in reporting accurately on and anticipating problems in bilateral relations, and if crisis comes, finding all the common ground for resolving problems to the greatest mutual benefit.

Oliver Geronilla is a language instructor at HMA, Dasmarinas, Cavite. W. Scott Thompson, professor emeritus of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, has served in four presidential appointments in Washington and written numerous books on politics, including that of the Philippines. He resides in Makati, Bali, and Washington. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the opinions of The Korea Times.