Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MANILA - Whether Barack Obama or John McCain wins the United States presidency, there won't be any major shift in US foreign policy toward a small country in the Asia-Pacific like the Philippines.

"The US policy has been set a long time ago. It's very stable. After the elections, there won't be any major change,'' National security adviser Norberto Gonzales said in a phone interview last week.

"Essentially, it's the same for us. The only difference is that who [between them] will be quicker to act.''

Obama, the Democratic candidate, is enjoying a solid lead over his Republican rival in polls leading to Tuesday's election.

Political analyst Mon Casiple also said that an Obama or McCain presidency would not have any "dramatic effect'' on the US government's handling of the Philippines.

But he said that the next US president would be closely watching the Philippines' coziness with China, an emerging global superpower.

"The strategy won't change much,'' the analyst said in a phone interview last week. "They still consider us as a major ally in this part of the world.''

Clarita Carlos, political science professor at the University of the Philippines, however, pointed out that the world, not just the Philippines, would witness a "sea change'' in US foreign policy under a President Obama.

"There will be a sea change in how the US treats the rest of the world [under Obama],'' she said by phone Saturday, pointing out that Obama would veer away from the Bush administration's original policy of "unilateralism.''

She added: "He represents young blood; he is more tolerant than McCain, who belongs to the old school and whose assumptions are still within the Cold War framework.''

The marked change in policy would be seen in the US global campaign against terrorism, the UP professor said. "He (Obama) will put more emphasis on economic development to deal with extremism instead of taking the bombing route,'' she said.

Unless a major political crisis erupts in the country, or a major change in policy vis-a-vis China is crafted, US policy toward the Philippines would still be handled by the US State Department, Casiple said.