Aileen Baviera, Phd (1959-2020): a Multilateral Life

Aileen Baviera, PhD (1959-2020): A Multilateral Life

Janus Isaac NOLASCO Managing Editor Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, University of the Philippines Diliman

Dr. Aileen S.P. Baviera, Professor and former Dean of the UP Asian Center, passed away in the early morning of 21 March 2020. She was 60.

Wherever my career path took me—at one time or another as an academic, an armchair activist, a government analyst, an author, an editor, a policy adviser, a public speaker on international relations, an advocate of people’s diplomacy, a keen observer of global affairs— sometimes nationalist, sometimes internationalist—China always rose to the front and center of my work, she wrote. (Baviera 2020)

Forty years of China-watching made her one of the foremost China specialists in the Philippines. She leaves behind an extensive publication record on contemporary Chinese politics, China-Southeast Asia relations, Asia-Pacific security, and regional integration. The work of an indefatigable scholar, this intellectual output has been nothing less than prodigious. A thorough assessment of her writings—their evolution and continuity, among other things—is not possible at this point, not least because it will take time to read them separately and collectively, to say nothing of close analysis. Even so, to appreciate the legacy of Professor Baviera, one must look to the quote with which I began this article. As an “academic, an armchair activist, a government analyst, an author, an editor, a policy adviser, a public speaker on international relations, an advocate of people’s diplomacy, a keen observer of global affairs—sometimes nationalist, sometimes internationalist,” she lived a multilateral life.

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Benedict Anderson, with whom she incidentally shares a birthday, entitled his memoirs, A Life Beyond Boundaries. The phrase captures Dr. Baviera’s multilateral legacy. In her own way, she crossed boundaries (literal and metaphorical), and never restricted her outlook to that of the state, civil society, nation, region, government, or academe. By no means did she not appreciate each of these perspectives. On the contrary, as someone who said, “simplistic thinking will not do,” she always saw things from multiple vantage points, and this was reflected in her illustrious scholarship; in her efforts to build networks and engage different sectors; and in her relaxed, but steady and confident prose; her personality—calm and balanced—mirrored her writing style. Ever a civil servant and once a member of the foreign policy establishment, she was part of the state, and directed her analysis thereto. At the same time, as a few of her works show, she could be critical of the state itself, and not just of its policies, and strove to practice a diplomacy that accounted for nonstate actors. She loved the Philippines, but as an area studies specialist, she always saw it in light of regional and global developments. She was an academic, but went out of her way to bridge the university, government, and civil society. Even in her foreign policy analysis, like her chapter in Bilateralism, Multilateralism and Asia-Pacific Security (Baviera 2013), she understood and appreciated both bilateral and multilateral means in managing territorial disputes. She balanced her passionate commitment to the Filipino people, her pursuit of scholarly objectivity, and her trademark approach of “understanding and engaging with the many perspectives that shape and balance our understanding of, and response to critical issues,” which Professor Caitlin Byrne (2020) of Griffith Asia Institute noted. Thus, while she was understandably known as a China specialist or as a resource person on the South China Sea disputes, she was much else besides. There was a great depth and complexity in her scholarly and practical interests.

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Domestic Interests: Writing for the Filipino People

Not many can match Dr. Baviera’s expertise on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. As a friend once said (words to the following effect), “kahit pagbali-baligtarin mo yung issue, hindi mo siya mapapaikot” (roughly, no matter how much you shuffle the issue, you won’t be able to pull a fast one on her). Among her numerous publications on the disputes, several stand out. A year after the Scarborough Shoal standoff, she came out, with Jay Batongbacal, The West Philippine Sea: The Territorial and Maritime Jurisdiction Disputes from a Filipino Perspective . An 81-page primer, it offers “a simplified and objective rendering of the historical background, current conditions, pertinent issues and policy questions regarding the territorial and maritime disputes in the West Philippine Sea” (Baviera and Batongbacal 2013, Preface). The primer was not just a scholarly work, however. It was also, more importantly, illustrative of her commitment to the Filipino people. The primer “focuses on information...most important and of interest to citizens of this country, rather than information that may be highlighted by various foreign authors, organizations, or governments” (ibid.). Even when she was writing about China, ASEAN, or global geopolitics, she always had the Philippines in mind, even if it did not always appear in all her writings. In a book chapter, Domestic Mediations of China’s Influence in the Philippines (Baviera 2016c), she examines the extent of Chinese impact on Philippine foreign policy by looking at three case studies: the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking, the NBN-ZTE Agreement, and the Scarborough Shoal standoff. Published in Rising China’s Influence in Developing Asia, the article concludes that

...the way China’s power translates into influence... depends less on the amount of power than it does on other factors. Such factors may include... its successful cultivation of allies among members of the Philippine political elite... and whether or not there are countervailing sources of influence at the systemic level…. (Baviera 2016c, 127)

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Dr. Baviera adds

Philippine foreign policy decisions ... were responsive to persuasion and inducements by China when elite networks prevailed...but political actors and interest groups not in favor of Chinese interests can quickly block China’s channels of influence and undermine outcomes that might otherwise have been in Chinese interests. In the third case of the Scarborough Shoal standoff, coercion and intimidation played a more important role when China perceived high strategic stakes with the involvement of the U.S... in each of the cases, the Philippines has not been so helpless in the face of China’s superior resources, and Chinese influence is not as efficacious as might be deduced from the scale of power asymmetry alone. (128)

Shifting away from the Philippine political elite, she inquired in a Public Policy article (Baviera 2016e) whether, how, and to what extent Philippine foreign policy decisions affected domestic stakeholders—defense and maritime law enforcement frontliners, provincial and municipal governments, fishing communities and companies, energy players, and the Chinese-Filipino community, among others. Conducting extensive field work, Dr. Baviera notes, among other things, the “poor coordination between the central and local governments” (25). She observes that “local government executives of frontline provinces take little interest in the broader foreign policy goals of the state,” (25) while state leaders rarely capitalize on the knowledge and capacities of local governments, who are better informed and well-placed to respond to local realities (26). Her Filpino-centric perspective shines through in many other publications, such as “Defining the National Territory: Security and Foreign Relations Dimensions” (Baviera 2015). In this respect, she exemplified the advice she gave to “younger China watchers.”

….in the context of recent years’ difficult relations between the two states: if one has to take a side, one must take the side of the Filipino people....The Philippines, on the other hand, will have only us Filipinos to defend our interests and to promote our welfare. (Baviera 2020)

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Critique of the State

In looking at the domestic stakeholders in the disputes, Professor Baviera was advocating for a people’s diplomacy, and essentially offered a critique of state policy. In an essay in November 2016, Can Anyone Really Rule the South China Sea? (Baviera 2016a), she wrote that the disputes arose precisely because of the nature of states.

It seems that governments have let their primordial territorial instincts rule them. There is folly in this. They seek control of the waters, as if oceans could be tamed, claimed and fenced off like the land. In truth, no one knows exactly what they are claiming...

Recently, I was on a six-day cruise in the East China Sea that started in Shanghai and docked in Okinawa, Nagasaki and Fukuoka... When not conferencing on the boat, I spent some time on deck watching the sun rise from the sea and set into the sea, day after day.

Looking out into the seemingly limitless ocean, one could not help but have a sense of being free from territorial boundaries. I thought of how being creatures of the land has taught most of us to think in terms of the state and its narrow interests. Just exactly at such a moment, another passenger standing beside me - also looking out at sea - nodded his head in one direction and said: “That is where the Senkakus are, not too far from here. That is where Japan and China might yet end up having a war over their contested islands.”

...I envy the free creatures of the sea, for we creatures of the land have become captive of our own illusions of conquest and control.

This is one of her more lyrical, even literary pieces. Her academic prose always had a flowing quality, even as it was formal, rigorous, and scholarly, but this essay took a different, even lighter tone, and had more than a refreshing touch of Romanticism. Most of all, it echoed the anarchist critique of the state (Nolasco 2020b, 277–78). Foreign policy was often state-centric, but she could retain enough distance to problematize it and

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see its limitations. This anarchist streak arguably stems not just from her trademark multi- and interdisciplinary approach, but also from her student activist days (Tadem 2020a; 2020b) and her ability to identify, and reject, state propaganda (Baviera 2020).

Seeking Dialogue

Dr. Baviera’s commitment to national interests was matched by an equal passion to enhance Philippines-China relations. As a scholar-diplomat, she organized and took part in many dialogues over the years, meeting with Chinese scholars and officials, speaking in various conferences in China and the Philippines, and even inviting Chinese academics to deliver two lectures on Chinese foreign policy (UP Asian Center 2017) at the UP Asian Center in May 2017. Reflecting on her long, productive career, she wrote,

I worked with fellow China-watchers in the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and Philippines-China Development Resource Center to help strengthen civil society linkages, including with groups like the Nanjing-based Amity Foundation and the China Association for NGO Cooperation. (Baviera 2020)

She also engaged in, and researched on, rural development in Asia, including China (Tadem 2020b; 179, 182; Baviera and Militante 1999; Baviera, Shaolian, and Militante 2000; Baviera, Tadem, and Royandoyan 2020). Her civil society work reached its culmination with the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc. (APPFI); it is a nonprofit think-tank which she established in 2014 to help promote, among others, “future- oriented, people-centered, peaceful and independent Philippine foreign relations” (APPFI, n.d.). As President and CEO, she wanted APPFI to “develop issue-based partnerships and networks among governmental and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and academic institutions in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific” (ibid.). Among other projects, Dr. Baviera “worked closely with the Stable Seas Program” of

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One Earth Future “to convert the Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Sea report into something that would become a foundation for direct policy engagement” (Stable Seas 2020). Many of these and other similar initiatives can be found in the APPFI website. With her extensive network and expertise, she was frequently invited by many organizations to serve as consultant, advisor, or speaker, including the Philippine Navy, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the China Association for NGO Cooperation, and the International Network of East Asian Studies Academic Programs, to say nothing of international conferences abroad. Dr. Baviera was a member of the Board of Advisers of the Philippine Navy.

RRRegional and Long-Term Perspectiveseses

In many ways, Dr. Baviera’s publications reflect and respond to the evolution of Philippines-China relations since the 1980s, as well as of ASEAN diplomacy, Philippine foreign policy, and broader geopolitical trends since the Cold War. From Managing Territorial Disputes (Baviera 1997) to Philippine Domestic Interest Groups’ Perceptions of China’s Rise and the International Environment (Baviera 2018), one can also glimpse the vicissitudes of foreign policy regimes from Ferdinand Marcos to Rodrigo Duterte. If the Domestic Mediations (2016c) article engaged the Arroyo administration’s China policy, the Domestic Stakeholders article (Baviera 2016e) and The South China Sea: The Way Forward Post- Arbitration (Baviera 2017d) exemplified her analysis of Philippines-China relations under the Aquino and the Duterte Administrations. In these and other publications, she shared her insights to critique and help guide Philippine foreign policy (cf. Nolasco 2020c). She was part of an “Informal Expert Group” that sought to provide “a strategic framework for the management of the West Philippine Sea” (Baviera 2015, 39). In 2015, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Strategic Studies Program of the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS). The program sought to cultivate a more “strategic” approach to foreign policy.

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Aileen and her collaborators realized that Philippine foreign policy lacked a strategic perspective, hence the oft-cited criticism that it was largely reactive. The genesis of the China/Strategic Studies Program owed much to Aileen’s insistence that the strategic element of the program cannot solely focus on the use of military power for defense and security, as was traditional with programs on strategic studies across the world. Instead, the program had to take the perspective of the Philippines as a developing country, ‘which cannot draw much leverage from military resources and therefore need to rely more on diplomacy and political stratagem’....The focus then could lean heavily on “Philippine foreign and security policy, the management of international conflict, and how the country can develop the means to match its long-term goals”... The major gap, however, was in the latter, which meant that there was a need to train analysts and those who would advise policymakers on how to think strategically. (Kraft 2020, 167–68)

Having studied Philippine foreign relations, and ASEAN diplomacy for four decades, she always wrote with the longue durée in mind, even if that history did not always come to the fore in her work. Her immersion in the history of her field (s) is exemplified in a 2017 publication (Baviera 2017c), where she compiled various sources to produce a table that identifies “ASEAN’s Role in the Changing Security Environment of Southeast Asia, 1967–2017.” The table appears on page five of an integrative chapter, “Preventing War, Building a Rules-based Order: Challenges Facing the ASEAN Political–Security Community” (Baviera 2017c). Trained in area studies at the UP Asian Center, she always saw the big picture, and never lost sight of the regional and global contexts of her work. She infused her incisive takes on Philippines-China relations with an intimate knowledge with geopolitics, including U.S foreign policy in Asia and China’s relations with ASEAN member states. Apart from her PhD dissertation, “Post-Cold War China-ASEAN relations: Exploring Worldview Convergence and its Security Implications,” (Baviera 2003), two other works stand out: “Challenging Geopolitical Seascapes: Southeast Asia and the Big Powers in the South China Sea” (Baviera 2017a) and “Changing Dynamics in Philippines-China-U.S. Relations: The Impact of the South China Sea Disputes” (Baviera 2014a).

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PPPolicy Making in Govvvernment

Her stint in government policy making in the 1990s gave depth, grounding, and authority to much of her writing. At the Foreign Service Institute, she became the Head of the Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies. In this capacity, she interacted with diplomats, and saw policy-making up close. She learned much from Ambassador Rodolfo Severino, who invited her to be an “adviser on China matters” (Baviera 2019) amidst China’s occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995. In her tribute to Severino, who passed away in April 2019 and also served as Secretary General of ASEAN, Professor Baviera wrote, “...he was to me an inspiration and a source of learning for what Philippine diplomacy should be like, now and in the future” (ibid.). She notes how he spoke of

‘concentric circles’ of Philippine foreign policy—about how our national interests were most deeply intertwined with those geographically closest to us, with the first circle involving Malaysia (where he also served as Philippine Ambassador), and Indonesia (where as Secretary-General he presided over the ASEAN at its Jakarta headquarters). Today, the three countries’ ongoing efforts at cooperation—especially on boundary issues, maritime security and countering violent extremism—underscore this. (ibid.)

This concept of concentric circles would later find echoes, if not direct parallels, in her own approach—seeking dialogue and seeing things from multiple perspectives—to diplomacy and foreign policy analysis. Apart from the formative experience of working at FSI, she also helped chronicle the story of Philippine foreign relations. She co-edited Philippine External Relations: A Centennial Vista (Baviera and Yu-Jose 1998), a must-read for anyone studying the diplomatic history of the Philippines, according to Dr. Ariel Lopez, Assistant Professor at the UP Asian Center. He read the book when he was a history undergrad at the University of the Philippines Diliman.1

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A Country Specialist: The China Major

For all her expertise in regionalism, diplomacy, and global affairs, Professor Baviera did have a “narrow” country focus: as many know, she specialized on China, specifically on its politics and foreign policy. After graduating from university, she studied there for two years in the early 1980s, just a few years after Deng Xiaoping rose to power. She was thus a witness to a country on its initial steps towards becoming a regional, and eventually, a global power. Chronicled in her essay (Baviera 2020), this experience was crucial to her development as a scholar, not least because it gave her a historical background with which she could compare later developments in China’s history. Back home, she finished in 1987 her masters thesis at the UP Asian Center, Rural Economic Reforms in China, 1979–1984 (San Pablo 1987), which sought, among other things, to account for the country’s transformation after 1978. Several of her early publications on China, edited or sole-authored, came when she was working at the Philippine-China Development Resource Center in the 1990s. Notable here is Black Cat, White Cat: An Inside View of Reform & Revolution in China, edited with Theresa Carino and published in 1993 (cf: Nolasco 2020c). “...as part of civil society, Dr. Baviera saw China not just as an academic, and that additional perspective significantly enriched her research agenda...” [and] “helped her realize that diplomacy was as much about people as it is about the state” (Nolasco 2020b, 268). Her “lifelong engagement with civil society,” not least her work at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, dates from this period (ibid.). By the time she joined the UP Asian Center as a faculty member in 1998, she was already a recognized China expert. Over the years, she taught the Politics and Governance in China course in the UP Asian Center, and kept abreast of political developments in the country. In a July 2017 lecture, she gave an overview of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI)(Baviera 2017b). Her article, “China’s Strategic Foreign Initiatives under Xi Jinping: An ASEAN Perspective” (Baviera 2016b) examines Chinese foreign policy initiatives until 2016.

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Her greatest scholarly contribution arguably lies in her advancement of China Studies in the Philippines since the 1990s. She was one of thirteen senior China specialists interviewed for the book, China Studies in the Philippines: Intellectual Paths and the Formation of a Field (Clemente and Shih 2018). In a February 2016 interview (Baviera 2016d), part of a Global Oral History project by National Taiwan University, Dr. Baviera shares how she got interested in China, her studies in the country from 1981 to 1983, her development as a scholar, and her valuable comments on the origins, evolution, and current state of China Studies in the Philippines. Asked about the future of the discipline in the country, she said,

.....I think it is important to put more China content across different fields so that a broad range of stakeholders will come to appreciate the different aspects of China. For instance, increased attention can be given to the impact of China to regional and global economy, as well as business skills, techniques, and negotiation styles necessary in dealing with Chinese business people. It is not just simply the setting up of China Studies programs. Aside from that, there is also a need to strengthen China Studies program at the graduate level. Organizations promoting or advancing China Studies, like PACS, should have an institutional base for them to grow. The private sector should be mobilized to support the academe. The goal is to publish more original research and come up with research-based analyses and recommendations. Relationships between those who produce research and its end users must be institutionalized. Right now, linkages between the bureaucracy and the academe are not institutionalized although there are instances when government agencies actively engage other stakeholders in the performance of their duties. (Baviera 2016d)

AAAt the UP Asian Center: Ma’am Aileen

Dr. Baviera taught in the Department of Political Science, UP Diliman and at the Ateneo de Manila University before joining the UP Asian Center in 1998. As dean from 2003 to 2009, she was instrumental in the overhaul of the curriculum of the Asian Studies graduate (M.A.) program.

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(1) Under her term, the 40-year old Asian Studies curriculum, which focused on specific country studies, was overhauled to promote a comparative analytical framework around specific themes. This reorientation allowed for a deeper study of similar and distinct development patterns as a result of historical legacies as well as intensifying globalization and regionalism.

(2) In line with this programmatic reform was the strengthening of AC programs on other regions, starting with the aggressive recruitment of faculty members.

(3) The forging of the partnership between UP and the Toyota Motors Philippine Corporation for the setting up of the GT-Toyota Hall of Wisdom and the GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium. Aileen initiated the P100 million-project in March 2008 as part of the then AC’s UP Centennial fund-raising activities. (Raquiza 2020, 5)

She also contributed to several UP Asian Center publications. She edited Regional Security in East Asia: Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building (Baviera 2008) and co-edited (with Dr. Tina Clemente) an issue of Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia devoted to Emerging Asian Communities in the Philippines (Baviera and Clemente 2015). Three of her publications saw print in the journal: “Managing Territorial Disputes” (Baviera 1997); “Philippines-China Relations in the 20th Century: History versus Strategy” (Baviera 2000); and “The China Challenge to ASEAN Solidarity: The Case of the South China Sea Disputes” (Baviera 2002). Together with Caroline Hau, she also wrote a chapter, “Individual, Ethnic and National Identity in the Age of Globalization: The Case of the Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia” (Baviera and Hau 2001) for the book, Going Global: Asian Societies on the Cusp of Change (Malay, Jr. 2001). Lastly, she also “conceptualized, organized, and headed” a research project, “Thematic Assessment of Philippine Foreign Relations, 1946–2008” (Tadem 2020b, 180) at the UP Asian Center. As Professor of Asian Studies, Professor Baviera mentored many students, many of whom have expressed their sorrow and fond recollections on social media. One alumna, Katrina Navallo, recalls the intimidation

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she felt in a Research Methods class taught by Dr. Baviera, who, she knew, had such a high stature in Philippine academe. She was not a “terror professor…but it was just because of so much respect and inspiration she draws… she has always been a figure to look up to.”2 That “intimidation” is belied by her kindness to students and colleagues. Sascha Gallardo, who worked with Dr. Baviera in the UP Asian Center from 2011 to 2019, writes,

There are so many things I thank Ma’am Aileen for, and I’m glad I was able to tell her that. In 2012, we had to vacate our apartment, and couldn’t find a new place to stay, and she told us that we could stay at her house as we did our search. And when somebody broke into my apartment in 2018, she asked me if I needed anything.3

A new generation of China specialists and area studies graduate students benefited from her guidance in and out of the UP Asian Center. “Dr. Baviera believed and never gave up on me and in my dreams of finishing my MA degree,”4 says Charles de Guzman, who wrote his thesis under her supervision. Ivy Ganadillo, another China major, sums up what Dr. Baviera meant to her, “She was a mother to me.”5 A colleague, Lilia Marquez, Administrative Officer of the UP Asian Center, recalls,

Ma’am Aileen was not just a good administrator but a friend as well. I will never forget the support and kindness she showed me while I was still caring for my parents. When we cross paths, she would always ask “Kamusta parents mo? Ikaw? dapat malakas ka.” [How are your parents? What about you? You must keep your strength] We have big hugs when we see each other. The last time I saw her, mahigpit ang yakap, last na pala [tight hugs; it turned out to be the last one. Thank you very much for being a part of my life, Dean Aileen. I love you, rest na (“rest already”), you’ve worked so hard.6

Indeed, for Dean Joefe Santarita of the UP Asian Center, the passing of Dr. Baviera is “truly a great loss to us all... She is dearly missed... We will together mourn her passing.”7

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RRRemembering Dr. BB. aaavieraaa

Several media organizations—such as ABS-CBN (Esguerra 2020), Rappler (2020), GMA News (Severino 2020), Sun Star Manila (2020), The Philippine News Agency (Rocamora 2020), the South China Morning Post (Robles 2020), and Philippine Star (2020), as well as a few Chinese media outlets, reported her death. Tributes and recollections from fellow China watchers (Esmaquel 2020) have come in, including Teresita Ang See, Jaime FlorCruz, and Chito Sta Romana. Academic colleagues, both in the Philippines and abroad, expressed their laments on social media— Facebook and Twitter—as did the Philippine Navy. In their tribute, Griffith Asia Institute in Australia collaborated with Dr. Baviera and the APPFI to produce a “joint policy brief (West and Manantan 2019) on the bilateral relationship” between the Philippines and Australia. The Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS 2020) in Malaysia also shared the announcement of her passing on Facebook, calling her “a veteran in the foreign policy academic.....a good friend of ISIS Malaysia and a key part of the ASEAN-ISIS Network.” Many in foreign policy and diplomatic circles–such as Hjayceelyn Quintana, Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates—recognized her legacy as well (Artida 2020). “In recent years,” writes Dr. Aries Arugay, a Research Fellow at APPFI and Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman,

Professor Baviera focused on mentoring the next generation of strategic and area studies scholars as well as security practitioners by organizing research workshops and leadership programs. Her impeccable scholarship as well as her humble and gracious demeanor has inspired colleagues and policymakers. Her leadership in the Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress is a centripetal one, as it has invited scholars from different institutions to engage in cutting edge strategic policy research and track-two diplomacy.8

Doubling as mementos and emblematic of her views through the years, albeit in distilled form, many of Professor Baviera’s interviews and lectures are excellent introductions to issues in Philippine diplomacy and

Volume 56 (1): 2020 8896 J. NOLASCO international relations. These include her presentation at Yale University in May 2016, “The Geopolitical Quandaries in South China Sea: Implications for the Philippines, China, and the U.S.” (Yale University 2016); a video interview (Gavilan 2016) and a presentation on ASEAN and the South China Sea (Rappler 2017), both from Rappler; an interview with Manila Shimbun (Manila STV 2017); and a 2019 interview with Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Perspectives (PSHEV 2019), where she discussed her views on how [do] “regime type, nationalism, and culture affect the foreign policies of China and the Philippines” and the impact of the Hague ruling on Philippines-China relations. One of her more recent interviews is a video podcast by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, which posted the video on 16 March 2020 (FES Global 2020).

Living Without Fences

Professor Aileen S.P. Baviera completed her BS in Foreign Service (1979), MA in Asian Studies (1987), and PhD in Political Science (2003) at the University of the Philippines Diliman. A well-respected scholar in the Philippines and abroad, she also was editor of the journal, Asian Politics & Policy and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UP Alumni Association in June 2015. For over twenty years, she taught courses on ASEAN, international relations, Chinese politics, and security studies at the UP Asian Center. A partial list of her publications can be viewed in her profile at the Asian Center website (UP Asian Center n.d.), and in Google Scholar (n.d.). The outpouring of tributes from different sectors—from academe and government to civil society in the Philippines and abroad—has been heartwarming. The extent of her network is staggering, and her stature in international academe no less so. Amidst our pain, they have been a joy to read. Her passing is an undeniably immeasurable loss for her family and for the scholarly community, both in and out of the Philippines. She leaves behind an intellectual legacy that scholars will continue grapple with, and one hopes, can continue to guide Philippine foreign policy in the 21st century.

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The Philippines needs to study the scholarhip she left behind. The work of a lifetime, a labor of love, it is a deep reserve of insights to draw upon, inviting Filipinos anew to explore at this crucial time the complexities of Philippines-China relations and to reimagine the future of Philippine foreign policy. (Nolasco 2020c, 537)

Professor Baviera dreamt of a time when borders would no longer matter. “We have often heard it said, and rightly so,” she wrote, “that good fences make good neighbors. But there is also no gainsaying the value of sincere dialogue and patient engagement in working out misunderstandings and sowing the seeds of trust. Where there is trust, it may even be possible to live without fences at all” (Baviera 2019).

AAAcknowledgments

This essay is a slightly revised version of a piece that originally appeared in the Asian Center website in March 2020. While the original (Nolasco 2020a) is still discernible, it now cites other tributes on Professor Baviera that have appeared since (Kraft 2020; Nolasco 2020b; Nolasco 2020c; Raquiza 2020; Tadem 2020a; Tadem 2020b). The author would like to thank Jane Dasal for her assistance in getting the present essay ready for publication.

End Notes

1 Personal communication with Ariel Lopez, 21 March 2020 2 Personal communication with Katrina Navallo, 21 March 2020. 3 Personal communication with Sascha Gallardo, 21 March 2020. 4 Personal communication with Charles de Guzman, 21 March 2020. 5 Personal communication with Ivy Ganadillo, 21 March 2020. 6 Personal communication with Lilia Marquez, 21 March 2020. 7 Message by Dean Joefe Santarita to Asian Center employees announcing Dr. Baviera’s passing, 21 March 2020. 8 Personal communication with Aries Arugay, 21 March 2020.

RRRefefeferererences

Artida, Rodney. 2020. “Ambassador Quintana writes heartfelt tribute for Dr. Baviera.” The Filipino Times, 23 March. https://filipinotimes.net/news/2020/03/23/ambassador-quintana -writes-heartfelt-tribute-dr-baviera/. APPFI. n.d. “About.” Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc. https://appfi.ph/about -us.

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Baviera, Aileen. 1997. “Managing Territorial Disputes.” Asian Studies 33: 35–42. ———. 2000. “Philippines–China relations in the twentieth century: History versus strategy.” Asian Studies 36 (2): 51–68. ———. 2002. “The China Challenge to ASEAN Solidarity: The Case of the South China Sea Disputes.” Asian Studies 38 (2): 93–120. ———. 2003. “Post-Cold War China-ASEAN relations: Exploring Worldview Convergence and its Security Implications.” PhD diss., University of the Philippines Diliman. ———, ed. 2008. Regional Security in East Asia: Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building. Quezon City: UP Asian Center. ———. 2013. “Territorial and maritime jurisdiction disputes in East Asia: Comparing bilateral and multilateral approaches.” In Bilateralism, Multilateralism and Asia-Pacific Security: Contending Cooperation, edited by William Tow and Brendan Taylor, 100–14. New York and Oxon: Routledge. ———. 2014a. “Changing Dynamics in Philippines-China-U.S. Relations: The Impact of the South China Sea Disputes.” In New Dynamics in US-China Relations, edited by Mingjiang Li and Kalyan M. Kemburi, 242–56. London: Routledge. ———. 2014b. “Domestic Interests and Foreign Policy in China and the Philippines: Implications for the South China Sea Disputes.” Philippine Studies and Ethnographic Viewpoints 62 (1): 133–43. ———. 2015. “Defining The National Territory: Security and Foreign Relations Dimensions.” Public Policy 12: 21–54. bit.ly/ppj-profaileen. ———. 2016a. “Can anyone really rule the South China Sea?” The Straits Times, 20 November. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/can-anyone-really-rule-the-south-china-sea. ———. 2016b. “China’s Strategic Foreign Initiatives under Xi Jinping: An ASEAN Perspective.” China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies 2 (1): 57–79. ———. 2016c. “Domestic Mediations of China’s Influence in the Philippines.” In Rising China’s Influence in Developing Asia, edited by Evelyn Goh, 101–28. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ———. 2016d. “From curiosity to maturity: An expert’s journey through China Studies.” Interview by Lucio Pitlo III, 30 October. http://china-studies.taipei/comm2/Aileen%20Baviera.pdf. ———. 2016e. “Territorial and Maritime Disputes in the West Philippine Sea: Foreign Policy Choices and their Impact on Domestic Stakeholders.” Public Policy 15. bit.ly/ppj-profaileen ———. 2017a. “Challenging Geopolitical Seascapes: Southeast Asia and the Big Powers in the South China Sea.” In New Zealand National Security: Challenges, Trends and Issues, edited by William Hoverd, Nick Nelson and Carl Bradley, 74–89. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University Press. ———. 2017b. China’s Belt and Road Initiative [PowerPoint Presentation]. Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, 11 July. https://appfi.ph/publications/presentations/1522-china-s-belt-and -road-initiative-vision-vs-implementation.

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———. 2017c. “Preventing War, Building a Rules-based Order: Challenges Facing the ASEAN Political–Security Community.” In Building ASEAN Community: Political-Security and Sociocultural Reflections, Volume 4 of the “ASEAN@50” series, edited by Aileen Baviera and Larry Marami, 3–18. Jakarta: Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. ———. 2017d. “The South China Sea: The Way Forward Post-Arbitration.” In Traversing The Challenges. Political, Economic And Environmental Dimensions of Maritime And Regional Security, edited by Benedikt Seemann and Sebastian Bersick, 9–15. Makati City, Philippines: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. ———. 2018. “Philippine Domestic Interest Groups’ Perceptions of China’s Rise and the International Environment” [In Japanese]. In Beyond the China Threat: Regional Perspectives on the Rise of China, edited by Shigeto Sonoda and David S.G. Goodman Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. http://www.utp.or.jp/book/b335437.html. ———. 2019. “Remembering Rod Severino, 27 April 1936–19 April 2019.” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 May. https://opinion.inquirer.net/121340/remembering-diplomat-rod-severino. ———. 2020. “Aileen Baviera on her 40 years of China watching.” Rappler, 21 March. https: //r3.rappler.com/nation/255335-aileen-baviera-40-years-china-watching. Baviera, Aileen and Lydia Yu-Jose, eds. 1998. Philippine External Relations: A Centennial Vista. Pasay City, Philippines: Foreign Service Institute. Baviera, Aileen, Liao Shaolian, and Clarissa Militante, eds. 1999. Food Security in China and Southeast Asia. Quezon City: Philippine China Development Research Center and the Research School of Southeast Asian Studies of Xiamen University. Baviera, Aileen and Clarissa V. Militante, eds. 2000. Partners Against Poverty: Negotiating State- Civil Society Cooperation in Rural Asia. Quezon City: Philippine China Development Research Center. Baviera, Aileen and Caroline Hau. 2001. “Individual, Ethnic and National Identity in the Age of Globalization: The Case of the Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia.” In Going Global: Asian Societies on the Cusp of Change, edited by Armando Malay, Jr., 10–27. Quezon City: UP Asian Center. Baviera, Aileen and Jay Batongbacal. 2013. The West Philippine Sea: The Territorial and Maritime Jurisdiction Disputes from a Filipino Perspective. Quezon City: UP Asian Center, and the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea. Baviera, Aileen and Tina Clemente, eds. 2015. Emerging Asian Communities in the Philippines (Special Issue), Asian Studies Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia 51 (1). Baviera, Aileen, Eduardo Tadem, and Romeo Royandoyan. 2020. Agricultural Modernization in China and the Philippines: Lessons and Implications. Public Policy Monographs. Quezon City: Center for Integrative and Development Studies, University of the Philippines. bit.ly /cnphagriculture. Byrne, Caitlyn. 2020. “Remembering Professor Aileen Baviera.” Griffith Asia Institute, 24 March. https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiainsights/remembering-professor-aileen-baviera/. Clemente, Tina and Chih-yu Shih, eds. 2018. China Studies in the Philippines: Intellectual Paths and the Formation of a Field. London and New York: Routledge.

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Esguerra, Christian. 2020. “Leading PH expert on China succumbs to suspected COVID-19.” ABS-CBN News, 21 March. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/21/20/leading-ph-expert-on -china-succumbs-to-suspected-covid-19. Esmaquel II, Paterno. 2020. “Aileen Baviera, 60: Her eyes were on China, her heart stayed with PH.” Rappler, 21 March. https://r3.rappler.com/nation/255384-china-expert-aileen-baviera -obituary. FES Global. 2020. “RePhil Podcast with APPFI Executive Director Aileen Baviera (FES Philippines).” YouTube, 16 March. https://youtu.be/WZcF_jURABo Gavilan, Jodesz. 2016. “Choice of one country over another ‘unnecessary’ – expert.” Rappler, 29 October. https://www.rappler.com/video/china-philippines-choice-one-country-unnecessary -expert. Google Scholar. n.d. “Aileen Baviera.” Google Scholar. Retrieved from https: //scholar.google.com/citations?user=fDY-SdQAAAAJ&hl=en. Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS). 2020. “The Board, management and all staff at ISIS Malaysia are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Aileen Baviera.” Facebook, 21 March. https://www.facebook.com/ permalink.php?story_fbid=3402307373118769&id=139277256088480. Kraft, Herman. 2020. “Aileen S.P. Baviera: Thinker, Teacher, (Track-Two) Soldier, ‘Spy.’” Philippine Journal of Public Policy: Interdisciplinary Development Perspectives 2020: 165– 71. https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/Tribute-Baviera_Kraft.pdf. Manila STV. 2017. “On PH Issues - Dr. Aileen Baviera, Professor, UP Asian Center.” YouTube, 10 July. https://youtu.be/ZOUeZ1I_478. Malay, Armando, Jr., ed. 2001. Going Global: Asian Societies on the Cusp of Change. Quezon City: UP Asian Center. Nolasco, Janus Isaac. 2020a. “A Multilateral Life: Aileen Baviera, PhD (1959–2020).” Asian Center. https://ac.upd.edu.ph/index.php/resources/news-announcements/2100-aileen-baviera- tribute-asian-center. ———. 2020b. “A World Without Fences: The Life and Scholarship of Dr. Aileen Baviera.” In “Along the Academe-Policy Frontier: A Tribute to Aileen S.P. Baviera.” Asian Politics & Policy 12 (2): 263–87. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aspp.12529. ———. 2020c. “Aileen S.P. Baviera 1959–2020.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 68 (3): 533–39. http://philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.php/ps/article/view/5057. Philippine Star. 2020. “Philippines’ leading scholar on China, security studies dies of COVID- 19.” Philippine Star, 21 March. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/03/21/2002495 /philippines-noted-scholar-china-security-studies-dies-covid-19. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. 2019. “PostScript EP3: Aileen S. P. Baviera.” YouTube, 10 March. https://youtu.be/wE2a_TpWJU8. Rappler. 2017. “Baviera on an ASEAN in the age of post-arbitration South China Sea.” YouTube, 10 May. https://youtu.be/F0XxoBU6JaY.

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———. 2020. “U.P. professor, China expert Aileen Baviera dies of coronavirus.” Rappler, 21 March. https://www.rappler.com/nation/255339-university-of-the-philippines-professor -aileen-baviera-dies-coronavirus Raquiza, Antoinette. 2020. “Dr. Aileen Baviera: Remembering the Legacy.” Musyawarah: The Asian Center Newsletter 1(1):5. https://ac.upd.edu.ph/acmedia/images/newpdfs /Musyawarah_Vol1_Issue1.pdf Robles, Raissa. 2020. “Philippine sinologist Aileen Baviera, dead from coronavirus, had urged recognition of China’s complexity.” South China Morning Post, 27 March. https: //www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3077168/philippine-sinologist-aileen-baviera-dead -coronavirus-had-urged. Rocamora, Joyce Ann L. 2020. “China expert UP Prof Aileen Baviera dies of Covid-19.” Philippine News Agency, 21 March. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1097354. San Pablo, Aileen. 1987. “Rural Economic Reforms in China, 1979–1984.” M.A. Thesis, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. Severino, Howie. 2020. “Dr. Aileen Baviera: Clear-eyed China watcher succumbs to COVID-19.” GMA News Online, 21 March. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news /nation/730715/dr-aileen-baviera-clear-eyed-china-watcher-succumbs-to-covid-19/story/. Stable Seas. 2020. “Stable Seas Remembers Aileen Baviera.” Stable Seas, 23 March. https: //www.stableseas.org/international-cooperation/remembering-dr-aileen-baviera. Sun Star Manila. 2020. “Former UP Asian Center dean dies from Covid-19.” Sun Star Manila, 21 March. https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1849378. Tadem, Eduardo. 2020a. “Aileen Baviera: Revolutionary at heart, more than a China-watcher.” Rappler, 25 March. https://www.rappler.com/nation/aileen-san-pablo-baviera-revolutionary -at-heart-more-than-china-watcher. ———. 2020b. “Aileen San Pablo Baviera, 1959-2020: A Dissident Tribute to a Scholar, Activist, Colleague, and Friend.” Philippine Journal of Public Policy: Interdisciplinary Development Perspectives 2020: 173–89. https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/Tribute -Baviera_Tadem.pdf. UP Asian Center. 2017. “Between Assertiveness and Self-Restraint: Understanding China’s South China Sea Policy | A Public Lecture.” Asian Center, 25 April. https://www.ac.upd.edu.ph /index.php/resources/news-announcements/1083-between-assertiveness-and-self-restraint -understanding-china-s-south-china-sea-policy-a-public-lecture. ———. n.d. “Baviera, Aileen S.P., Ph.D. (1959–2020).” Asian Center. https: //www.ac.upd.edu.ph/index.php/faculty-and-staff/regular-faculty/1739-dr-aileen-sp-baviera. West, Lucy and Mark Bryan Manantan. 2019. Australia-Philippines Relations: Connecting the Spokes. Griffith Asia Institute and Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation. https: //www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/948048/philippines-dialogue-policy-brief -2019-web.pdf. Yale University. 2016. “Aileen S.P. Baviera “The Geopolitical Quandaries in South China Sea: Implications for Philippines.” YouTube, 13 May. https://youtu.be/jUycMoQYIxc.

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