Dealing with China (2)

[I am having this two-part series on China translated into Mandarin in the hope that the Chinese will read this Philippine perspective and help us plan together for a healthy relationship — a meeting of minds and hearts — in spite of the many conflicts and issues. I give permission to publish the Mandarin version of this article, provided there are no alterations to the original text, to the Chinese media.]

Critical WPS Issue

The West Philippine Sea is one of the biggest thorns in Philippine-China relations. China refuses to honor the ruling of the UN court in The Hague that the WPS is part of Philippine maritime territory. The WPS has been the scene of many conflicts and encounters between Chinese and Filipino ships. China has been accused of harassing and using water cannons against beleaguered Philippine Coast Guard vessels and fishermen’s boats and instituting a food blockade to the Filipino troops stationed in the area.

China knows that the whole world knows about this because the Philippine strategy has been to video document all the incidents and report them to the international community via social media on a regular basis. So the world is informed through live footage of the encounters, which speak for themselves. The proposed solution is diplomacy, not a propaganda war.

The Joint Task Force Pilot

A WPS Task Force can be formed for official inter-government dialogues and diplomacy. If this is successful, it will be the pilot for an expanded task force dealing with generic issues.

The suggested Philippine position by this author is for the country to balance dealing with both the threats and the opportunities as explained in Part 1.

The Philippines will be benevolent and open to compromise and conciliation, while at the same time being malevolent on issues where we feel we are being bullied. We will be making peace and war at the same time. We will listen and dialogue but we will not succumb to bully tactics. This stance will gain respect for the Philippines which many Filipinos demand. This can be proposed as a starting point.

It is important for the Philippines to be open to the vast opportunities, especially in trade and local Chinese subsidiaries. China can set up firms here using Philippine labor that will be given technical training and support. The Philippines is the landowner and labor force, and China is the investor and corporate entity.

The concept of a joint exploration of the WPS for oil and gas can be revived and expanded on condition that it is not exclusive. Other nations can also explore and extract. This way militarization is replaced by industrialization — bread not bullets as the catalyst for peace is the goal.

Can the Silk Road be expanded to include the Philippines, especially in the transport of oil and gas to mainland China, where there can be a pipeline, provided the volume justifies it? Allocations for domestic use can be negotiated.

We are at the crossroads of both growth and decline as the multipolar environment starts to slowly evolve from the unipolar world exclusively dominated by the United States. The concepts suggested in this article will ease the “tightrope walk” the Philippines is presently doing in its relations with China.

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