In the endless brouhaha over the Scarborough conflict, we are harangued with lengthy discourses inside and outside the Senate.
All this stemmed from Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela, who also doubles as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Defense, and the Commander in Chief.
Also, obviously bereft of knowledge of events that took place in the past — and therefore they cannot argue sensibly on the issues surrounding the conflict over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys — senators like Tito Sotto, Erwin Tulfo, Kiko Pangilinan and JV Ejercito resorted to personally assailing their colleagues instead of defending their stand.
Like Tarriela, they tag those who do not subscribe to their stand as being “guilty of treason.”
The threat, however, does not make a strong case for the claim that the West Philippine Sea is ours (“atin ito”).
Losing the debate, they threw in another bogeyman: China’s invasion of the Philippines, complete with the braggadocio that the Armed Forces of the Philippines will be ready for war in the next 30 days.
That elicits the question: Will China invade the Philippines?
Not in the wildest dream and apprehension of AFP head Gen. Romeo Brawner and the babbling Tarriela. Here are the facts:
There is a Chinese adage that says, “Do not burn the house of your neighbor,” because the consequence is you will set your own house on fire.
In juxtaposition, China will never invade or disrupt the South China Sea or the WPS, as that is the primary trade route to its important market destinations worldwide.
By a rough estimate, China’s trade volume that passes through the SCS/WPS is around $5.3 trillion! Let that sink into the craniums of our honorable senators. Forget the nine-dash line, the arbitral ruling, and the decrees. Let’s leave that to the learned like Sass Rogando Sasot and Bobi Tiglao.
Let’s add a bit of history.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping embarked on a market-oriented economic reform and opened China to foreign investment.
By 2019, nearly 900 million Chinese had been freed from the shackles of poverty. Today, under President Xi Jinping, China is the world’s second-largest economy, and it also has the greatest number of millionaires next to the US.
Maybe those who are sowing fear and dissension against China should think seriously about whether the 900-million people who used to wallow in poverty would wager going to war — which could be protracted — and go back to living in communes. They will be angry over the prospect.
Those who harp on the issue about the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea to divert from the scandalous and unprecedented corruption in our government and the nagging rumor about the President’s health have run out of fairy tales.
We have too many internal problems bedeviling our country, yet our leaders are engrossed in a dispute over an atoll and vain attempts to remove VP Sara Duterte from the 2028 presidential race.
No, China will never invade the Philippines. It need not. Today, we are a wrecked economy, and we are in a quandary about how to tie up the loose ends. So, dismiss that phantasmagoria of an invasion.