The American lackey
UNITED States Vice President Kamala Harris recently visited the country with much fanfare. The second highest official of the most powerful country in the world does not visit other countries on a whim. The Philippines is just the 31st largest US trading partner. Meanwhile, the US is one of our top three. It means that our country is not really that important to the United States. Thus, Harris is here on a different matter. We are not important per se, but that matter is. And that agenda is China. US policy toward China has not changed fundamentally. It is what experts call a strategy of “congagement” (containment plus engagement). This policy seeks to integrate China into the international system (engagement) while both deterring (containment) and preparing for a possible Chinese challenge to it.
The engagement aspect is something that the US generally does directly with China. However, the containment aspect is something which the US wants to undertake in (Southeast) Asia using proxies, usually exploiting states that have territorial or other conflicts with China, coaxing them with all sorts of diplomatic tools to aggressively confront Beijing on behalf of Washington.
During the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, he refused to go along with the American agenda toward China, in part because the Barack Obama administration was critical of the former’s war on illegal drugs and its supposed human rights violations, and also because of nationalistic reasons; Duterte was repelled by what he perceived as heavy-handed American (neo-) colonial treatment of the Philippines. He insisted that the Philippines be treated with respect as an independent nation in the community of nations.
Thus, Duterte launched an unprecedented pivot to China (and Russia), away from the country’s longtime ally and former colonial ruler, thwarting the American agenda for the Philippines to be one of many proxies in the containment aspect of Washington’s congagement policy toward Beijing.
Now that Duterte is gone and there is a more acquiescent and docile president at the helm, the Americans have sent Kamala Harris to take advantage of the situation and resume the once-sidetracked US agenda in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
I have on many occasions voiced my dissent to adopting a combative attitude towards China, whether at the behest of the United States or at the foolish volition of any sitting president of the country. China, of course, is bent on pursuing self-interest in the West Philippine Sea, as it should. States are by nature selfinterested. It would be unfathomably tragic for a state to prioritize the interests of another over its own. Thus, China’s actions are understandable. So are the machinations of the United States.
But why would the Philippines under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. enslave itself to the American agenda vis-à-vis China? It does not make any sense.
China is glued to the Philippines because of a geographical accident. Thus, China’s interests will forever overlap with our own. There are no circumstances whatsoever that can shoo China away. It is unthinkable.
In contrast, there are many scenarios in which American policy toward China will change in the future. Look at Afghanistan: after the US policy calculus changed, they subsequently unceremoniously abandoned Kabul.
If we latch on to the current iteration of US policy and antagonize China as a result, what happens when the US decides to shift policy as they did in Afghanistan? We will be left with the empty bag facing the wrath of an overgrown dragon that we have unnecessarily angered.
What is the incentive for us to antagonize China? None whatsoever.
Antagonizing China has not stopped its activities in the West Philippine Sea. American backing of Benigno Aquino 3rd’s administration did not prevent a disastrous outcome for us during the Panatag Shoal standoff in 2012. The US has, from time to time, made its presence felt in the region but Chinese activities still pushed forward.
Vietnam has a similar problem with China. Its aggressive attitude toward China has not derailed Beijing’s activities in the West Philippine Sea.
There is nothing to be gained for us in this situation because none have shown any capability of stopping China. In fact, this is the reason why the US wants us to be cannon fodder for them. They refuse to face China themselves head-on so they need some lackey to do the dirty job for them. That lackey appears to be the Philippines under the mendicant Marcos Jr.
Why does Marcos Jr. seem eager to grovel at the feet of the United States? Simple. The country is struggling with inflation and other problems; the Filipino people are slowly getting displeased with the inaction of Marcos Jr. and I suspect he figures — as his father did in the 1980s — that American dollars can help temporarily stem the tide.
To be continued