Fishermen will fish

After the most serious clashes yet involving Filipinos and Chinese in the contested seas, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the country’s forces will not back down and will defend Philippine sovereignty even with their bare hands.

The dramatic footage of the Showdown at the Shoal involved the Philippine Navy crew on a resupply mission and China Coast Guard personnel carrying machetes and knives, earning their description as assuming the ways of pirates.

The Filipinos were surrounded by the CCG boats but stood their ground. There might have been an attempt to arrest the Philippine troops since China is already enforcing its no-trespassing regulation in the West Philippine Sea which is within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Teodoro said the Filipinos’ actions which China termed as a provocation were necessary as the government must see that “the Filipino people will be the ultimate beneficiaries of the EEZ.”

As to when the Philippines will seek the aid of the United States based on the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Defense chief said it is hard to define hypothetical red lines “given the very volatile and dynamic situation.”

Nonetheless, Teodoro admitted that the possibility of an all-out conflict remains “a big concern.”

“We are not the provocateur here. We have been the recipient of persistent bullying and we see evidence of internal subversion,” he said.

He said the attempts at subversion are meant “to weaken our economy and our moral fabric,” but did not say much more beyond that.

The agenda of the strategists in the conflict is to prevent the risk of armed conflict, a possibility that remains worrisome, Teodoro said.

Efforts at what is termed as aggressive transparency have garnered praise as the strategy imposes consequences on China’s reputation.

In Chinese culture, keeping face matters a lot, a characteristic that strategists are banking on that would prevent China from taking too drastic actions lest the maritime situation be exposed to the world.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed officials to “civilianize and internationalize” the dispute through the use of the Coast Guard and by routinely embedding journalists on missions.

Exposing the actions of China, thus, has built international support for the Philippines.

Regional experts said the transparency strategy and the deepened military alliance with the US have constrained Beijing’s ability to escalate the confrontations.

The CCG’s use of machetes and knives was meant to keep the conflict at a low level that would not trigger the treaty and risk a military confrontation, which China wants to avoid.

Teodoro said Filipinos are a peace-loving people and will always try to avoid confrontation but “in the face of China’s illegal acts, it will be a violation of our basic law, our Constitution, if government officials ignore this fact.”

“We do not want confrontations and we try to strategize to avoid them but they cannot stop Filipino fishermen from their traditional fishing ground,” which he qualified was the main reason for the Philippine forces to stand their ground.

Teodoro said that if the fishermen continue to be harassed in the country’s territory then the conflict will remain.

“If China continues to occupy the disputed areas, I wish the whole world would be more vociferous in voicing their concern and opposition to what China is illegally doing,” he said.

China’s objective is to make the South China Sea their internal waterway so they can strangle international commerce and bring it under their exclusive control.

Standing against their military using bare hands is heroic but would hardly be the solution to keeping China at bay.