It’s worrisome that our leaders act with unfounded bravado on the West Philippine Sea issue. Their rhetoric is nowhere near diplomatic or friendly. Stoking the fire is the military’s much publicized acquisition of more modern armaments. Yet, all this brave posturing does nothing more than amuse China. She sits back confident that no scale of modernization can make the Philippine military come close to her firepower.
We know we are in no position to start a war with China. Hence, our false bravado can come only from the US assurance of support in case of war. We forget that only the US has the firepower to start a war. Therefore, US support could only mean Uncle Sam will enhance our military’s capability to support him in his (but not our) war with China. So, who’s supporting whom now?
Anyway, it is doubtful if Uncle Sam will ever go to war with China. But if he does, it will not be to defend our territorial rights but to promote his hegemonic designs in the region and protect the global interests of the US empire. It would be the height of gullibility on our part to think the US will go to war for us, to defend our rights to the West Philippine Sea.
From there we can conclude that we are expendable. The US had done it before, abandoning us to the mercy of the Japanese when their strategic priorities called for setting our defense aside. Fortunately, they were able to return as promised. But have we ever considered what would have happened to us if the tide of war had prevented General MacArthur from returning?
Didn’t the US also abandon South Vietnam and Afghanistan when its position became untenable in those countries? The US will definitely abandon us and leave us to our own devices if it suits their national security interests. And we can’t, nobody can, blame them for it. A self-respecting country is expected to always give priority to its national security interests.
And now, there’s the Trump factor. I must be missing something here but I can’t seem to put my finger on why Americans are fixing to put a convicted felon back in the Oval Office. Never mind that it will toll the death knell of democracy in the US. Never mind that it will mean the decline of the American empire. The question for us to consider is this: Will King Donald’s mantra of making America great again include honoring the US military commitment to the Philippines? I don’t know about you, but I have my doubts.
In light of all this we should consider fighting the Chinese along the lines of Sun Tsu’s “art of fighting without fighting.” For all we know that’s how China is already playing it. We need to act friendly but smart on the diplomatic table instead of exhibiting a false bravado towards a powerful neighbor that we should be smart enough to never eliminate as a potential friend.
China just recently asked us to stabilize our ties with her. We should consider responding positively to this and stop our baseless hence futile warmongering.