Former defense and security experts on Friday gave their take on the bullying and aggression purportedly being committed by China in the West Philippine Sea.

Former National Defense secretary and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales said it was important to determine the root cause of the conflict.

“First, the politics of China. Let’s understand that there is something higher than China, the Communist Party of China,” Gonzales said in a media forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

“This means we will be having a dialogue with China, and most importantly with the Communist Party of China. China thought about its actions, and is not reactive. We should think of solutions now,” he said.

On the alleged wiretapping in the purported “new model” deal to de-escalate the tension in the West Philippine Sea, Gonzales said that Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was right in attacking China for it.

Teodoro said that such a recording or wiretapping was a violation of the country’s Anti-Wire Tapping Law and that whoever were involved should be deported from the Philippines.

Act as one

Gonzales said that Japan would also like to make its presence felt in the West Philippine Sea, which for him would affect the respectability of the Philippines, noting that some 20 million Filipinos could be trained for war.

“The important thing is that we act as one people and the underlying act is that we love our country,” he said.

Gonzales noted that the leadership of China has an expansionist bent such that they would like to be a world power.

“We are like the Chinese. They also love their country. We must understand and know what is happening in the Communist Party of China,” he said.

“China would not want to go to war. But if their territory is involved, China may go to war. And if China will go to war, they would like to defeat their enemy and end the war at the soonest possible time,” the former Defense secretary said.

“We must calm down about the changing sentiment of the Chinese people and the Communist Party of the Philippines,” Gonzales said.

“This is a propaganda war. We should look at this,” he added.

For her part, former national security adviser Dr. Clarita Carlos pointed out that there are a lot of non-state actors involved, noting that Gonzales was right in saying that we must know who are the antagonists involved.

Lots of memos

“It is not possible to outline what you will do every day. Secretary Gonzales has given a lot of memos to President Marcos Jr. if we are really serious about getting along with China,” Carlos said.

Carlos differentiated the low politics from the high politics such as the involvement in marine resources like fishing in the West Philippine Sea.

“Let’s follow our low politics from high politics wherein the marine scientists, not only in the ASEAN, should resolve the issue on climate, specifically the marine scientists,” Carlos said.

“For many, many decades, the marine scientists of the Philippines and China were united in the research and development of marine resources in the West Philippine Sea,” she said.

Carlos, however, refused to comment on the alleged wiretapping committed by Chinese officials, saying the authenticity and integrity of the recording should be validated before making any comments on the matter.

Security dimensions

Retired Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, chairman of the Advocates of National Interest (ANI), a group of retired military officers and national security advisers and active Armed Forces of the Philippines officials, said we should know the security dimensions of the aggression and bullying by China in the West Philippine Sea.

“Since it’s premised on the alleged bullying and aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea, what the government is showing now, we show that bullying how we are held back by China operationally,” he said.

On the alleged wiretapping by Chinese officials, Adan said a three-star general of the AFP is not authorized to engage with Chinese diplomats as they are only implementers of government policy.

Adan supported the recommendation of Carlos on the unity of command. Both the Philippines and China are desirous of protecting their own interests so much so that our actions should also be tempered.