AFTER years of maneuvering, China has gotten what it wanted all along: strengthen its control of the disputed territories in the South China Sea. Reports from the US network CNBC say it all. Chinese missiles (anti-ship cruise missiles and surface to air missiles) and missile systems have been installed in Kagitingan, Zamora and Panganiban reefs in the Spratlys.
Those are three of the seven reefs that the Philippines claims as its own but which China seized and then transformed into artificial islands. The reefs are far from China but are very close to Palawan island. Their international names are Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs. Portions of the Spratlys are being claimed, aside from China and the Philippines, also by Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
What this means is that the Duterte administration’s strategy of kowtowing to China has failed to deter that country’s expansionist moves. Our expression of goodwill has not been reciprocated, instead, it is being used against us. Our refusal to even talk about the Arbitral Court ruling that supported our territorial claim on parts of the Spratlys eased somewhat international pressure on China, allowing it to pursue virtually undeterred the island-building and missiles installation.
The truth is, China is not a good neighbor considering its insistence on gobbling up territories that are clearly not theirs. To insist on its being a friend in the true sense of the word like what the Duterte administration is doing is to lie. While the United States can also be a predator, especially economically, it has stopped forcibly seizing territories of other nations. Yet the Duterte administration had insisted on demonizing it more than China.
The enemy of your enemy is your friend, the military strategist Sun Tzu said. The US and China have conflicting interest in the Pacific. The better strategy is therefore to go for the lesser evil. In this sense, Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a former military officer, is making more sense than the Chinese lapdogs in government, including the president himself and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
“If (the installation of missiles) is verified to be true, we should maintain high political ground by invoking the arbitral ruling, international law, UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), etc.,” Honasan said. Then this: that the Philippines should resort again to what the senator said is an array of economic and security arrangements with our allies, like the Mutual Defense Treaty, Visiting Forces Agreement and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), all with they US. And we should forge unity with the other claimants aside from China.
It therefore is not mere coincidence that even as the issue on China’s missile-installation spree in the Spratlys is boiling, the 12-day “Balikatan 2018” between US and Philippine soldiers kicked off in Quezon City. Note that President Duterte had said “Balikatan 2017” was the last under his term. But it looks like Defense Chief Delfin Lorenzana and officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) prevailed on this one.
Which should be the case. The AFP should be at the forefront in the defense of our territories—not some bungling officials of the Duterte government.