WRONG DECISIONS, GRANDSTANDING, COSTLY POSTURING Our problem with China is unnecessary. Actually, it is self-inflicted. It only started when our government leaked information that we are allowing the US to build a military base in Palawan. No one will deny Chinas right to protect its own interests. North Korea is a client-state of China. There is a problem between North Korea and South Korea, and between North Korea and Japan. China itself has a problem with Japan, as well as Taiwan. If there will be shooting war between China and its client-state on the one hand, and South Korea, Japan and Taiwan on the other hand, China has to protect its own interest. The problem is that the US has treaty obligations requiring it to protect Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which will necessarily result in a military confrontation between China and the US. A lead time of five minutes will enable China to repel any missile from US bases in Europe or from Diego Garcia, to the disadvantage of the US. But such advantage becomes nil if the US military launching pad for offensive missiles will be Palawan. If China is acting like a spurned lover nowadays, it is because of the Philippine decision to allow US basing rights in Palawan. Our leaders seem to ignore Chinas self interest, because we are trigger happy. We feel that once we have a mosquito fleet of boats and planes, we already won. But posturing is not the gauge of superiority, If we browse the fact-sheet on China and the Philippines at the website of the US Central Intelligence Agency, we will realize that our puny armed forces compare with that of China like a dart and a tank. We know we will be crushed, but we bravely buy more darts to prop up our bravery. China has ICBMs that could deliver nuclear warheads across the Aleutians to Washinton DC. It has MIRVs whose multiple warheads ride astride one delivery missile but each warhead is programmed to destroy multiple targets like Baguio, Manila, Quezon City, Cebu city, Davao city etc. all at the same time. Where will the anti-submarine helicopters that we want to procure come in? China could destroy us without using airplanes. Our mistake is in considering the interests of the US as our interest. That is not so. As between the interest of Japan and the Philippines, the US will prefer Japan, because Japan is an obedient ally, not to mention that it was the US that drafted the Japanese constitution. And it was the US that supervised the resurgence of Japan. On the part of the Philippines, we have a track record of insubordination. We even changed the very Independence Day that the US imposed on us by treaty in 1946. We passed senate resolutions evicting the US military bases in Subic and Clark, although it was the Pinatubo eruption that actually caused the US bases to be vacated precipitately. Now, we are trying to grandstand, in making it appear that we could decide by ourselves, but the decision we make is actually a betrayal of our own interest. Without a US military base in Palawan, China will not bully us. With a US military base in Palawan. the US will just look at us akimbo while China makes fun of our soldiers and fishermen at the disputed shoals and islands. In the end, we do not get any advantage in allowing the US to build a military base in Palawan. The situation would be like the one being advertised by Philip Morris. All the disadvantages. Prostitution shall proliferate anew, like what happened in Subic and Clark before. Of course, there is the advantage of being able to produce more beauty contestants, but that is another story. Stop this nonsense about allowing the US to put up a military base in Palawan, and Chinese bullying will stop. They will even send us flowers out of gratitude. China is against arbitration under the auspices of the UN agencies, because China knows that it is violating international law. To China, the issue is not about legality affecting its claim of ownership of the China sea (because India could not lawfully claim ownership of the Indian Ocean either), but Chinas concern is self-interest. Alright, if the Aquino government is that genuinely concerned in bolstering the strategic interests of the US, which will cost us hundreds of billion pesos in having to modernize our armed forces just to repel Chinese bullying (assuming it will work), the US should advance the required amount, because we shall be spending just to be able to allow the US to proceed with the construction of its planned military base in Palawan. Things should be ironed out on quid pro quo basis. Scratch my back, and I scratch yours. That should be the plain term of reference. If not, we have to stop this nonsense. Use the amount instead to alleviate the plight of the poor, considering the 34% poverty incidence, as well as the 27.5% unemployment rate in the counter today. The bright boys in the Department of Foreign Affairs seem unable to read between the lines. They seem uninterested in having to stop the bullying. China wants one-on-one dialogue, because China is poised to settle the matter amicably. China is poised to capitulate, but our diplomats are pugilistic. What happened anyway to the back-channel negotiations undertaken by Trillanes? The whole problem therefore is unnecessary, with the Philippine government trying to spend for the security requirement of the US. And this runs by hundreds of billion pesos. If we appear to be short-changed at the end of the bargain, our leaders have something to explain to us, the bosses, the taxpayers.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 08:51:05 +0000
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