As we are all aware of, this pandemic did not bring any good to the whole world in terms of

safety, health, and financial aspects of every country. For the past 3 years of the spread of this
virus, we are still fighting to runaway from this disease. Since the first report of its outbreak on
31 December 2019, up until now, every country is guarding its public safety by having
guidelines on how to stop the transmittal of Covid-19. But recently, those guidelines are now
loosened up and countries are now trying to cope up with new normal.
Current Situation of Japan, USA and China:
Japan on 10 June 2022 announced to open its borders for foreign nationals who are to stay less
than three months in the country, for tourists who are guided by travel agencies and on 01
March, they added foreign nationals who are entering Japan for a long-term stay. As you can see,
Japan is now welcoming foreign nationals in its country after many months of closing its borders
for its public safety.
On the other hand, the United States of America is more concentrated about experiencing heavily
impact by the global inflation surge and a heavy increase in gasoline prices, partly due to
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Also, in my opinion rooted from the global pandemic we’re
experiencing of. High inflation means the buying power of workers' take-home pay has been
shrinking. According to a report from SHRM.org, real average hourly earnings fell 3 percent,
seasonally adjusted, from July 2021 to July 2022.
The US economy is considered a "red hot" labor market, meaning "constant or even accelerating
inflation." (Lawrence Summers, 2022)
Moreover, because of the Covid-19 outbreak, growth normalization of China is now disrupted.
The virus affected most its economic due to the prolonged lockdowns experienced in China.
Because of this, China now faces dual challenge of balancing the virus and its economic growth.
Also, Chinese Communist Party leader and state president Xi Jinping also eyes on tightening the
control over all aspects of life and governance, including the state bureaucracy, the media, online
speech, religious practice, universities, businesses, and civil society associations, and it has
undermined an earlier series of modest rule-of-law reforms which was not seen by the country
for decades.
Philippine-Relations with Japan, USA and China:
Diplomatic relations of Japan and the Philippines started on 08 September 1951, when
Proclamation No. 365, s. 1956 also known as making public the Treaty of Peace with Japan was
signed in the City of San Francisco by the late President of the Philippines Ramon Magsaysay.
Other bilateral agreement was the Reparations Agreement between Japan and the Republic of the
Philippines which was signed on July 1956. Japan is truly welcome here in the Philippines and as
a matter of fact, as of December 2021, in accordance with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Japan website, there are 15,728 Japanese nationals residing in the Philippines. On the other hand,
there are 276,615 Filipinos who are now residents of Japan.
Philippines’ relation to the United States of America is currently looking forward to
strengthening the excellent cooperation between the two countries, as friends, partners, and allies
according to US Department of State’s Spokesperson. As it happens, Secretary of State Antony J.
Blinken will travel to Manila to meet President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and Secretary of
Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo to reaffirm the U.S.-Philippines Alliance and the U.S. commitment
to the Indo-Pacific region. Economic, security, and people-to-people ties that serve as the foundation
of USA’s enduring friendship with the Philippines, and efforts to strengthen its partnership through
increased cooperation on trade, investment, and clean energy, advancing both country’s shared
democratic values, and pandemic recovery are believed to be discussed in the meeting of the two
parties.
For the analysts, the recent meeting between China and Philippines is a stage for mending ties
that have been frayed by a festering maritime sovereignty dispute. It is believed that the problem
regarding the islands and reefs in the South China Sea will now be settled through diplomatic
means and peaceful consultations.
Recommended Salient Points of Discussion:
The whole world is obsessed with the Japan’s shrinking population. As we all know, Japan’s
birth rate is yearly declining. Compared to the 7.205 births per 1000 people in 2021, there has
been a 1.33% decline in 2022 where it went down to 7.109 births per 1000 people. (Macrotrends,
2022) Japan is aware of this situation in their country and recently declared a “declining birth-
rate state of emergency.” In 2012, the New York Times asked, “Without babies, can Japan
survive?” If this continue, their workforce will also decline since people there are growing old.
Philippines can help by sending labor workers in Japan so that they cannot run short of
workforce there.
The USA is known to be the birthplace of the five Internet Giants in the whole world. The
Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft are considered the most powerful in the
global digital market. They were named as the Big Tech, the most dominant in digital
technology. Since it all came from the USA, there is an undeniable fact that Americans have
been blessed with creative minds and talents when it comes with this aspect. In my opinion, they
must use these platforms to spread knowledge most especially in this time of pandemic where
most people are only relying on the news on the internet and different social media platforms.
USA also have been blessed with its great healthcare compared to the other countries and is
known to be coping well with the Covid-19 through its programs and abundant vaccines such as
Pfizer. They could help the others by donating or presenting programs related to the virus.
Many people may ask why no social media platforms is there such as Facebook and Google in
China. The reason of not operating those there is the Internet Censorship in the country. Chinese
citizens are barred from knowing controversial events and not knowing the actions of their
government because of this censorship. This is severely restricting the freedom of its press. The
government also monitors their internet access. The ideological background of this restriction in
China is from Deng Xiaoping’s favorite saying, "If you open a window for fresh air, you have to
expect some flies to blow in." Other social media platforms not allowed in China are Youtube,
Wikipedia, Netflix, Instagram, Spotify and many more which we all know are the most
applications used by the other countries such as the Philippines.
Critical Issues to Defer from Discussion (and Why?):
As the Philippines known to be a gender sensitive country, a topic which should be deferred to
Japan is the time when they invaded the Philippines and made the Filipino girls their comfort
women during the war. The history should be omitted as a topic since there was a time a report
has been made that Filipino women were taken to be raped by the Japanese soldiers. There came
to a point where in all the corners of a particular church in Manila had a woman being raped by a
soldier. This also involves the Philippines’ respect to the religious places being destroyed by the
Japanese in the past.
As for the United States of America, a sensitive topic not to be tackled with them is the election
of Former President Rodrigo Duterte where it became difficult to see how the Philippines can
accomplish the goals of upholding freedom of the seas and deterring Chinese aggression in the
South China Sea and beyond. Human rights violations by the Extra Judicial Killings and
democratic backsliding in his time is also a clue of larger strategy to support democracy which
weakened the U.S. alliance with the Philippines.
Since 2009, when China tried to assert its claims over South China Sea (SCS), Philippines ever
since objected strongly in it. This also took the matter to the United Nations Secretary General.
China and Philippines since fought over the territory and used different law enforcement
agencies to stop each other. In 2013, as we all remember, the Philippines finally brought the
issue and filed arbitral proceedings against China at Permanent Court of Arbitration in The
Hague under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). Up until now, this
sensitive issue has not been yet resolved.
References:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/july-2022-cpi-and-real-
earnings-reports.aspx
https://freedomhouse.org/country/china/freedom-world/2022
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/publication/china-economic-update-june-2022
https://www.mofa.go.jp/index.html
https://www.state.gov/
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/JPN/japan/birth-rate
https://www.worldisavillage.com/en/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-united-states-of-
america-usa/
https://www.awf.or.jp/e1/philippine-00.html