Fantasy, Affect, and Pan-Asianism: Mariano Ponce, the First Philippine Republic's

Foreign Emissary, 1898–1912 By Nicole Cuunjieng Aboitiz

Summary:
Fantasy Affect, and Pan-Asianism: Mariano Ponce, the First Philippine Republic’s
Foreign Emissary, 1898-1912 authored by Nicole Cuunjieng Aboitiz is a roughly
twenty-eight page article that examines the work of Mariano Ponce as the First Philippine
Republic’s Foreign Emissary during the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American war.
It also examines Ponce’s Asianist view and his attempts to promote a Pan-Asianist alliance.
The article examines Pan-Asianism in an interesting way, examining Pan-Asianism not
through or focused on the Northeast Asian Centric “Center” but through the Southeast Asian
“Perhipheral” view mostly the Philippines. Cuunjieng does this by discussing Pan-Asianism
through affective and material dimensions and not just as a pure discourse.

In order to best summarize the article I will be splitting it into 5 parts and summarizing
each part.
Part 1: Introduction
The first portion of the article serves as a introduction to Mariano Ponce, his views, his
work in La Solidaridad, some historical works etc. But mostly focuses on introducing his
background as the First Philippine Republic’s foreign emissary to Japan. His goal was to
discover Japan’s policy towards the revolution and gaining its aid primarily through securing
arms and ammunition. The first portion also serves as a brief introduction to the concept of
Pan-Asianism and Ponce’s views/ideas, connection and contribution to the discourse. Most
importantly this portion of the article provides the justification & objective of the paper as
well as the definitions and various strands of Pan-Asianism which helps explain the concept
to those who are unfamiliar. Three strands of Pan-Asianism are discussed Sinic-Pan
Asianism,Teaist Pan-Asianism, and Meishuron Pan-Asianism. The differences between the
three are discussed as well as which strand of Pan-Asianism Mariano Ponce likely believed in.
(It was the Teaist strand of Pan-Asianism.)

Part 2: From Reform to Revolution with Transnational Material Cooperation

The second portion of the article introduces a cast of actors that Mariano Ponce and the
First Philippine Republic either cooperated with or had a relationship/correspondence with in
some way. Some of the actors introduced include, exiled Korean prince Park-Yeong Ho,
Chinese revolutionary and future president of the Republic of China Sun-Yat-Sen. Japanese
Pan-Asianists and ultranationalists Hirata Hyobei & Fukushima Yasumasa & Japanese
activist & poet Miyazaki Toten. These cast of actors are important for they are responsible for
influencing and refining Ponce’s view on Pan-Asianism whilst at the same time also being
influenced by Ponce and the actions of the Philippine republic. This portion also narrates
Ponce’s & the First Philippine Republics interactions with these actors, the discussions that
grew and developed the concept of Pan-Asianism through said interactions, the possible
conception of the “asian” identity or the “East vs West” mentality but it primarily narrates the
material cooperation Japan decided to send to the Philippines and the Philippine’s attempt to
persuade Japan to help them calling upon the ideas of having “One Shared Destiny” and
having similar cultures,concepts and mannerisms. In essence the use of Pan-Asianism to
secure help. It also marks the first time a “Asian” nation helped another “Asian” nation
overthrow a Western Imperial Power, the case of Sun-Yat-Sen and Prince Park-Yeong Ho
being discounted as they were mostly domestic disputes.

Part 3: Affective Relations & the Pan-Asian Fantasy

This portion of the artice is primarily focused on the emotion and affinity invovled in
Pan-Asianism a portion that was primarily overlooked. In particular it focuses on the
emotions and “fantasy/romanticism” present within the actors introduced in Part 2 that
allowed them to embody and enact their own visions of Pan-Asianism. This is primarily
analyzed through various letters and accounts from Sun-Yat-Sen, Miyazaki, Ponce and others.
This also introduces the start of the friendship between Sun-Yat-Sen and Ponce and continues
a detailed narrative of the Japanese aid towards the Philippines which ultimately ended in
failure as the aid sent by the Japanese government were sunk and various scandals erupted
within the Japanese Pan-Asianists which ultimately caused the views of the Chinese and
Philippine government to sour somewhat. The failure of said aid ultimately caused the
Japanese government to change their policy in regards to helping openly helping the First
Philippine Republic who at the time was at war with the America as the Japanese did not want
to wage war with America at the time.

Part 4 & 5: Personal Pan-Asianism & Continued Asian Orientation Beyond the
Revolution
I have decided to summarize Parts 4 & 5 together, given that part 5 of the article is rather
short. Part 4 of the article is focused on exploring and analyzing Ponce’s personal
Pan-Asianist views as well as his views towards Japan & how he felt the nation should choose
to emulate them. It also focuses on Ponce’s various views on the similarities between the
Philippines and other Asian nations such as Vietnam, Thailand, Korea in history, cultures and
customs. In particular ponce likened Korean General An Kien-Su who fought against Russia
to Jose Rizal. Cuunjieng writes in particular that “Ponce believed that the Philippines was part
of a larger Asian community and were central actors in the anti-imperialist, anti-western
history that the Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos were conducting. That through the Philippine
revolution other Asian peoples would recognize themselves as “Asian” and not colonized
peoples and that eventually these peoples would emulate the Philippines in resisting foreign
occupation.” Cuunjieng finishes this with “The importance of geography and race in Ponce’s
thinking is what made Ponce an Asianist in general instead of merely an anti-imperalist”

Part 5 focuses on the effects of Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war and the
Philippines intial reaction to it while under American rule. It also focuses on what Ponce did
during the last years of his life after the Philippine revolution and the development of his
friendship with Sun-Yat-Sen as well as his travels around Asia which prompted him to see the
similarities and connection of the Philippines with IndoChina. Ultimately though the chapter
concludes with how the Japanese Pan-Asianist thought evolved into the Greater-East Asia Co
Prosperity sphere as well as a brief mention of schools of thought that emerged from early
Filipino Asianist views.

Author Info:
Nicole Cuunjieng Aboitiz is originally from the Philippines, and is a Research
Fellow at Clare Hall, Supervisor in World History, and the Executive Director of the
Toynbee Prize Foundation. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weatherhead Center
for International Affairs at Harvard University. She earned her Ph.D. in Southeast
Asian and International History at Yale University. Cuunjieng’s research interests
centre on global intellectual history and Southeast Asian environmental, cultural, and
social history.
Publications:
Forthcoming: “Book Review: The Future is Asian by Parag Khanna.” Journal of Asian
Studies
Forthcoming: “Restoring Asia to the Global Moment of 1898.” Journal of Imperial
and Commonwealth History

Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine

Revolution, 1887-1912 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).

“Fantasy, Affect, and Pan-Asianism: Mariano Ponce, the First Philippine Republic’s
Foreign Emissary, 1898-1912.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic
Viewpoints 67, nos. 3-4 (2019): 489-520.
“Book Review: Follow the Maid.” Newbooks.Asia (September 25,
2019) https://newbooks.asia/review/follow-maid [online publication]

“Book Review: Follow the Maid.” The Newsletter, 84 (August 2019): 17-18.

“Constructing Political Place: The International Philippine Revolution and

Transnational Pan-Asianism, 1887-1912.” PhD diss., Yale University, 2016.

“Cultures of Empire, Nation, and Universe in President Jose P. Laurel’s Political

Thought, 1927-1949.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 65,
no. 1 (March 2017): 3-30.

“Book Review: Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South
Vietnam.” Asian Studies 51. No. 2 (Oct. 2015): 200-203.

“Book Review: Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: A Biographical

Approach.” Social Transformations 2. No. 1 (Feb. 2014): 94-97.

“Ferdinand Marcos: Apotheosis of the Philippine Political Tradition.” The

Orator, Spring 2011, Issue 1, Volume 6: 1-30.

“The Holocaust within the Artistic Postwar German Society.” PoliComm, Spring
2008, Issue 1, Volume 2: 75-80.

Author Information & Publications lifted directly from the author’s about page in University
of Cambridge Faculty of History website.
https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-nicole-cuunjieng-aboitiz
Accessed on December 27, 2020

Historical Framework:
The article analyzes Pan-Asianism using a South East Asian “Peripheral View” &
uses affective and material dimensions in order to connect with the Northeast Asian
“Central View” of Pan Asianism. This is done through the narration of Mariano Ponce
as the Philippine Republics Foreign Emissary and his interactions with the
Pan-Asianist discourse in Japan, Korea and China.
Objective of Author:
To examine Mariano Ponce’s Asianist thought & his attempt to promote a Pan-Asianist
alliance & focus on the neglected affective & material dimensions of “Periphreal”
Pan-Asianism to connect it with the Northeast Asian centric “center” of Pan-Asianist
discourse and reframe the history of Pan-Asianist discourse to include Southeast Asia,
specifically the Philippines.

Researcher’s Arguments:
The researcher argues First Philippine Republic’s foreign collaboration with
Japan represents the first instance of fellow Pan-Asianists lending material aid toward
anti-colonial revolution against a Western power which harnessed transnational
Pan-Asian networks of support, activism, and association. The researcher also argues
that the material dimension is crucial to understanding the Pan-Asianism of the
colonized “periphery” primarily the Philippines and is important in order to include
this colonized “periphery”. The researcher also argues that the affective dimension, in
where fantasies, ideals and certain emotionalities formed much of the periphery’s
engagement with the Northeast Asian “Centric” of Pan-Asianism.

Evidences Presented/Sources Used:

Pare ikaw na rito send ko ang links sa mga references. Huwag ka nang gumawa ng summary
sa sources na ginamit ni Cuunjien kasi redundant na. E check mo lang ang references na
ginamit ni Cuunjieng sa paper tas describe kung whether mostly primary sources ba ang
ginamit o secondary tas anong type ba sila? Letters, Journal Articles, Books etc. Bigay ka rin
sa views mo as to whether rigorous ba si Cuunjieng.

Related works:
Eto medjo mahirap, since mostly neglected and South East Asia sa discussion ng
Pan-Asianism maliit lang ang sources online at almost lahat na nakita ko ginamit na ni
Cuuunjieng, mero akong nakitang tatlo na hindi niya ginamit. Send ko ang links, ikaw na
bahala mag summarize at connect sa related works.

New information learned/My views:

Most of the information presented in the article to us was new, though to be fair my
knowledge of historical Philippine foreign relations is rather low, however the new
information I find to be most relevant would be about Mariano Ponce, most of the Philippine
history that I hear about cover Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini etc. So it was interesting to learn
about another historical figure, especially since the article was able to gain letters from Ponce
and accounts written by others regarding Ponce. Reading about the “Peripheral” discourse in
relation to Pan-Asianism is also interesting because the concept itself is known to me only as
a predecessor to the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” So learning about the concept
and viewing it in a way that doesn’t directly relate to war crimes and suffering people from
my country endured gives me a whole new appreciation for the discourse and its history.
Learning about the connections and interactions between various historical actors from China,
Japan and Korea was also very interesting because I’ve not read many historical
accounts/articles of Filipino revolutionaries discussing, negotiating and refining their thoughts
and ideas with other historical revolutionaries from other Asian nations.
Overall, I agree with Cuunjieng’s arguments regarding needing to include the material
and affective dimensions when discussing the involvement of the “Periphery” in regards to
Pan-Asianism simply because it provides context and in my personal opinion helps
relate/bridge the narrative of “Periphery” Pan-Asianism to “Centric” Pan-Asianism. Japan and
China were never truly colonized (China was arguably broken into spheres of influence but
they were never officially colonized by a western imperialist power) so it would be difficult
for said countries to fully comprehend the narrative of the “Periphery” which were completely
colonized nations as such the need to understand the significance in regards to the material
dimensions provided by China and Japan are important. The affective dimensions are also
important in the bridging and contextualizing of the Pan-Asianist discourse because while
ideals, customs, fantasy and emotions are subjective and hard to quantify its difficult to deny
that it is exactly these variables that helped stitch together Pan-Asianist discourse and aid. The
long and detailed narrative provided by Cuunjieng in the article is a compelling argument of
that.