Define what ‘strategic partnership’ with Vietnam means

AFTER all the nice words of the Philippine and Vietnamese sides about the construction of “a strategic partnership” between the Philippines and Vietnam, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario had to hit the nail on the head. He correctly said that among the challenges that lie ahead is that “the two countries still have to craft exactly what the strategic partnership means.”

At the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference in Beijing, which President B.S. Aquino and the DFA chief (among other Filipino bigshots) are attending, President Aquino and Secretary Del Rosario and their counterparts from Vietnam had a meeting.