Frontline alliance: Philippines and Poland
Warsaw—”We are a typical Western country,” a top Polish expert explained as we settled into a hip café surrounded by a majestic collection of books from all around the world. “Everyone thinks of vodka when it comes to us, but we are a beer country.” The Hanseatic-Germanic influence is fully on display in Gdansk (Danzig in German), which reflects Poland’s tortured history as a midsized nation squeezed in between ravenous superpowers. Once a proud empire, which temporarily even controlled the Kremlin and established one of the first parliamentary democracies in the world, Poland disappeared from the modern age map on multiple occasions, thanks to the imperial conspiracies of much larger neighbors. No wonder the intoxicatingly melancholic melody of Frédéric Chopin, a nationalist Romantic whose heart was transferred to his homeland of Poland following his tragic death in exile.
A pillar of Catholic faith and one of the pioneers of “People Power” revolts in the 20th century, Poland has been on an upward trajectory in recent memory. “We [have been] hungry for [capitalist] success. Communism was a stupid mistake—and we are getting back to where we belong,” she added, referring to Poland’s political and economic transformation following the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe a generation ago. It’s hard to overstate the country’s remarkable success. As The Economist noted in a cover story earlier this year, Poland, once an impoverished Soviet satellite state, has “a bigger army than Britain, France, or Germany and living standards, adjusted for purchasing power, that are about to eclipse Japan’s.”
This year, Poland joined the ranks of the world’s 20 largest economies. The war in neighboring Ukraine has mobilized the nation like never before. Last year, Poland’s defense spending surged by a whopping 31 percent to reach $38 billion—one of the largest defense budgets in the world. This represented more than 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product—the highest ratio, by far, among major European nations. Thanks to its strategic proactiveness, Poland has become a major voice in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and an influential partner of Washington. “We lobbied to join Nato as a protection against Russia,” the Polish expert added, pushing back against the pro-Kremlin “Nato expansion” narrative.
Our spirited conversation came barely half a year after I interviewed Poland’s legendary foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who has eagerly pushed for a “Global Poland” through active pursuit of closer strategic collaboration with like-minded countries, especially in the Indo-Pacific. This time, I also had the pleasure of meeting Secretary of State Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, prominent experts from top think tanks and universities, and had conversations with parliamentarians during a visit to the Sejm, especially the Foreign Affairs Committee and/or Polish-Filipino parliamentary group. Not to mention, a fruitful visit to Frontex, where we got a briefing and almost real-time analytics on how Europe protects its borders based on principles of international law and human rights.
Two recurring themes in our discussions were how the Philippines also seems like a “Western country,” referring to our shared democratic values, and how our two countries are “separated by one nation or two,” referring to Russia and China. Beyond sentimentality, however, we need to pursue serious strategic cooperation. To begin with, Poles and Filipinos have overlooked each other in terms of tourism, business, and overall strategic imagination for far too long. That era of mutual oblivion should soon come to an end. Moreover, we should also pursue our own ”middle power alliance,” especially as we face aggressive revisionist powers across Eurasia. From drone and helicopter production to cybersecurity, renewable energy, shipbuilding, and food security, the sky is the limit for Philippine-Poland ties. Creating new trilateral and minilateral ”squads” with the likes of Japan, South Korea, India, and Australia could also accelerate prospects for concrete Filipino-Polish cooperation. Ultimately, however, we have a lot to learn from Poland in terms of ”strategic culture,” namely the agility, determination, and shared historical memories that have allowed Warsaw to maintain a robust defense policy posture despite its highly polarized domestic politics. And just as the Russian threat has energized Poland, the West Philippine Sea dispute should propel our country into a new era of strategic assertiveness and defense buildup. The ultimate aim is to make our countries more prosperous as well as independent, even as we leverage our special ties with traditional allies in Washington and other major capitals.
