Scary friends
Few of the 200 or more China militia ships that swarmed at Julian Felipe Reef (International name: Whitsun Reef) had remained within the West Philippine Sea (WPS) last week when boats from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) approached to challenge their encroachment into our territory.
It was tactical that the PCG and BFAR boats were sent. These ships did not pose a military threat to the Chinese militia. The PCG operates under the Philippine Navy only in times of war. It was symbolic, however, that they reclaim this part of Philippine waters that have been under Chinese control since December last year.
They dropped anchors there last December, a year after the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China and quickly spread around the world.
The pandemic, however, was no reason for the Chinese to hold back in expanding their hold and control of the WPS, raising concerns among Philippine officials and the military about another possible land grab.
The mistrust came after China, early into President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, assured the government that it has no plan of militarizing the waters whose features are contested by several countries, including the Philippines and China.
No less than Duterte, himself, assured that China is a friend of the Philippines and that there was nothing to worry about the dragon country that has no history of invading another country.
In a rather calculated manner, however, the Philippines had lost Subi and Mischief reefs following China’s gray zone activities that included the heavy presence of supposed Chinese fishing boats that are actually part of a de facto Navy force that China does not admit to maintaining.
After these boats came the dredgers,
“China had seen clear the statement by the United States and several of its allies with stakes in the unhampered passage of its commercial goods in area.
followed by the construction crews that build roads, ports, barracks and airstrips before Chinese military personnel moved in with their weapons and sensors. China sent warplanes and warships to these structures, too.
These were not lost on our government officials, though.
The Defense Secretary traded barbs with the Chinese Embassy when he ordered these ships to leave. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin fired a couple of protest letters against China, too.
There’s a buzz that high-ranking Philippine military officials were also unhappy with the developments and had sent the message to President Duterte last week. It coaxed the Chief Executive to make a rare second television appearance in a week.
The buzz said that he was to address the WPS concern but failed to deliver a statement due to the untimely death of Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) chief Adelino Sitoy.
By this time, the Chinese militia boats have dispersed and left just a handful for the PCG and BFAR ships to see. The wall of Chinese ships — anchored in the area, hull to hull like a giant fortress — was gone.
China had seen clear the statement by the United States and several of its allies with stakes in the unhampered passage of its commercial goods in area. It’s no guarantee, however, that its departure from the WPS is permanent.
The Chinese militia ships left not because of the presence of the PCG and the BFAR boats but because the US fleet has now concentrated in the Pacific and Asia.
As US President Joe Biden had assured Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of a strong united front last week, he had sent his signal of possible support to other smaller countries, like the Philippines, with which the US has a mutual defense treaty.
It also helped that Biden is to withdraw its last troops from Afghanistan by 11 September, placing an enormous consequence on his future actions in dealing with other profound challenges that the superpower nation is facing, like the rise of China and its ever-worsening relations with Russia.
With Afghanistan no longer needing much US military presence, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the assault ship USS Makin Island have also joined the Asia-Pacific journey, and with them are their air wings and escorting cruisers, destroyers and submarines. They do not travel alone, of course.
Their presence had emboldened the Philippine Navy to dispatch four warships, including two brand-new missile corvettes BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna near Whitsun Reef.
It’s unfortunate that this issue has reached this far as a diplomatic solution to the four-month deadlock had been ignored by China by remaining in the Philippine territory.
It can prove to be the Philippines’ friend if its militia will stay away from our waters for good. It’s unlikely, however, as the area’s mineral resources and fisheries are too hard to ignore for China’s 1.5 billion people.
If the alliances hold and strengthen, however, we’ll see more kinds of ships in our waters soon. It would be an interesting sight indeed.
“No less than Duterte, himself, assured that China is a friend of the Philippines and that there was nothing to worry about the dragon country that has no history of invading another country.