And why should China apologize?
China benefits? Sure. But we depend on them more. That’s what really drives us crazy. Not the monkey. Reality.
Daily TribuneChina benefits? Sure. But we depend on them more. That’s what really drives us crazy. Not the monkey. Reality.
Huh? Seriously. Why?
You apologize when you need somebody. When you can’t afford to lose them. A buddy, a lover, an equal, somebody whose opinion actually punches you in the wallet or breaks your damn heart.
China? What do they lose here? Our affection? Our approval? That’s our fantasy, not theirs.
The monkey cartoon. Suddenly they’re like, “That wasn’t the government.” State newspaper, state cash, state system, state message — boom! — monkeys everywhere and nobody knows how it happened.
We waited for flowers. Refreshed our inboxes for remorse. Maybe the embassy steps up: “Whoa, too far!”
Embassies are supposed to keep the bridges from burning. Should have been very easy; they said it’s not an act of government.
Instead? The Chinese Embassy has been on a different mission. Quite the embassy. Filipinos complain? “Your fault!” Tarriela speaks up? Shut up, Papa Smurf. Risa Hontiveros? “Arrogant.”
Very offensive. People went, “Yank Jing Quan! Kick that ambassador back to China! Persona non grata!”
And what did the embassy do? “If he has to go, he’ll go proud. Mission accomplished.”
Think about that. Absolute confidence. Beautiful. Tears in their eyes. Everybody clapping. Nobody knows why they’re clapping anymore. Very communist.
Why wouldn’t they? Look around. We buy way more from China than they buy from us. Factories, machines, phones, your BYD, the next big things. Your order shows up fast, so you open the mystery box and, surprise, still not “I’m sorry.” Wrong package every time.
China benefits? Sure. But we depend on them more. That’s what really drives us crazy. Not the monkey. Reality. The Chinese Embassy in Manila watched the protests, the demands for respect. Then? Business as usual. Meetings. Trade. Ships.
Not one of those things required the word “sorry.”
Because governments trade according to interest. Never feelings. The monkey was offensive; the real slap was the calm about the fact nothing would change if they just didn’t say it. Maybe that embassy was the most honest player in this affair.
Governments rarely lie with their choices. They’re out there planning to smack an asteroid before 2030, millions of kilometers away, screaming through space at 32,000 kilometers an hour. Not a country. Not a rival. A rock. In space. To defend the planet. A lovely new role for China, considering how much of the planet currently regards it as “the problem.”
A country gearing up to punch a rock in the universe didn’t “forget” one little diplomatic sorry to Manila.
Stop flattering ourselves.
We act like the world’s second-largest economy wakes up every morning going, “Hmm, what is the Philippines thinking today?”
Very flattering. Great powers don’t orbit smaller ones. And plans for the moon, asteroids, space stations, the next 50 years. They may plant a flag on the moon before America gets there again, claim the best spot, build a port, customs, then tell everybody the rocks have belonged to China since ancient times.
We’ve been carrying that ruling to sea like the world’s biggest Navy is legally bound to stop and read it, like someday it’d follow rules it had repeatedly shown us it would ignore.
Because “The world is with us.” Congratulations. China looked around and asked, “Where?”
China never needed to prove the law was wrong, only needed to prove the law was alone.
