DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / June 18, 2014 / Daily Tribune
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario shrieked through media frantically last Monday that China “and other claimant states” are rushing construction activities in their respective claimed territories to establish facilities.
Which the “other claimant states” are the non-Filipino-speaking DFA secretary did not say, probably to highlight only China, which he has been concentrating fire on from Day One of his appointment to the office by BS Aquino.
Del Rosario wants the Philippines to “call for a moratorium of activities that escalate tension,” which obviously the other claimants won’t do for obvious reasons.
Every party to the claims of disputed islands and territories on the China Sea knows that presence, possession, and development weigh far more than other factors in the determination of a claim.
In fact, second to China, Vietnam is the most active in building facilities on its claimed islands — including the island the Philippines calls Pugad, where the Philippine military boasted, to spite the Chinese, they played soccer a few weeks ago with their Vietnamese counterparts. Vietnam calls that island Dao Song Tu Tay.
The Vietnamese have been building up their facility on that island since they took it over in 1975, after Philippine forces guarding it left to attend a party at a nearby island, indicating a lack of seriousness.
If the Philippines were to be taken seriously on its claims, shouldn’t it be as active, if not more, than the other claimants in establishing and constructing facilities in its claimed islands, atolls, shoals and reefs?
What we’ve seen so far from the Philippine government under BS Aquino and his DFA secretary is rhetoric and vituperations against one and only one claimant, China, which in reality it has no chance to oppose at all, while contradictorily, it cavorts with other claimants that have taken islands away from it, like what the Vietnamese did on Pugad Island.
I had a debate at the socials of the ribbon-cutting of the Botswana Consular Office at the First Global Building in Makati. Among the guests were Gen. Danilo Lim and former GNN show host, Gerry Cornejo. When the Johnson or Mabini Reef reclamation by China came up, Gerry proceeded with a harangue against China as it had been mainstream media’s foreign affairs headlines for weeks. I replied, “So, the Philippines should start building on its own claims!” Expectedly he said, “But we don’t have the money… blah, blah...”
If the Philippines can’t even raise funds to back its claims while trillions are siphoned off by oligarchs, politicians, and needless debts, does the Philippines deserve any of its claims?
It came to a point where Gerry asked (and in a friendly manner), “Are you Filipino?” — to which I responded without any hesitation, “I am more Filipino than you.” Naturally, he retorted, “How can you say that?” My answer: “I’ve been detained several times for advocacies on national issues.” Then, his reply was “How does that make you more Filipino than me?” “I put my life where my mouth is,” I emphatically said.
My erstwhile co-detainee from the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege, General Lim, was quiet; knowing him as a straightforward man of his word, I think he silently agreed with me. General Lim, I’m sure, would not tolerate the raging corruption of the system and had to resign his position in the present government.
I dispute the impulse of many Filipinos to treat China as an adversary and aggressor, and their penchant for labeling the pursuit of any other option as anti-Filipino.
I said in an open forum at a recent UP talk that “I resent this constant reference to China as ‘aggressor’ when the historical and continuing fact shows it’s the US and Britain.” To my surprise, the speaker, Central Intelligence Agency Asia expert Robert Sutter, responded, “Certainly, what China is doing is small cake compared with what the British and Americans have done.”
What China, Vietnam et al. are doing are not even “small cake” aggression, but probes and positioning with no intention to cause bloodshed or domination of another nation — with the promise of peaceful resolutions in the end.
In the recent China-Vietnam oil rig standoff, China has openly announced that it “will never send the military.”
China has been meticulous in following civilized international practice: In the 2012 Scarborough standoff with the Philippines, it only sent in its maritime surveillance ships when the Philippines used its BRP Gregorio del Pilar to arrest eight Chinese fishermen. In the USS Cowpens and oil rig imbroglio, China issued “no sail zone” alerts when the ship from a country 20,000 kilometers away tried to enter the zone, and when ships form Vietnam came up to the security perimeter of the oil rig.
Meanwhile, as five Asian countries are on a building campaign on their claims, with two in a steel-crunching test of wills, the Philippines is merely yakking to the media and whining before an international tribunal.
(Watch GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; tune in to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario shrieked through media frantically last Monday that China “and other claimant states” are rushing construction activities in their respective claimed territories to establish facilities.
Which the “other claimant states” are the non-Filipino-speaking DFA secretary did not say, probably to highlight only China, which he has been concentrating fire on from Day One of his appointment to the office by BS Aquino.
Del Rosario wants the Philippines to “call for a moratorium of activities that escalate tension,” which obviously the other claimants won’t do for obvious reasons.
Every party to the claims of disputed islands and territories on the China Sea knows that presence, possession, and development weigh far more than other factors in the determination of a claim.
In fact, second to China, Vietnam is the most active in building facilities on its claimed islands — including the island the Philippines calls Pugad, where the Philippine military boasted, to spite the Chinese, they played soccer a few weeks ago with their Vietnamese counterparts. Vietnam calls that island Dao Song Tu Tay.
The Vietnamese have been building up their facility on that island since they took it over in 1975, after Philippine forces guarding it left to attend a party at a nearby island, indicating a lack of seriousness.
If the Philippines were to be taken seriously on its claims, shouldn’t it be as active, if not more, than the other claimants in establishing and constructing facilities in its claimed islands, atolls, shoals and reefs?
What we’ve seen so far from the Philippine government under BS Aquino and his DFA secretary is rhetoric and vituperations against one and only one claimant, China, which in reality it has no chance to oppose at all, while contradictorily, it cavorts with other claimants that have taken islands away from it, like what the Vietnamese did on Pugad Island.
I had a debate at the socials of the ribbon-cutting of the Botswana Consular Office at the First Global Building in Makati. Among the guests were Gen. Danilo Lim and former GNN show host, Gerry Cornejo. When the Johnson or Mabini Reef reclamation by China came up, Gerry proceeded with a harangue against China as it had been mainstream media’s foreign affairs headlines for weeks. I replied, “So, the Philippines should start building on its own claims!” Expectedly he said, “But we don’t have the money… blah, blah...”
If the Philippines can’t even raise funds to back its claims while trillions are siphoned off by oligarchs, politicians, and needless debts, does the Philippines deserve any of its claims?
It came to a point where Gerry asked (and in a friendly manner), “Are you Filipino?” — to which I responded without any hesitation, “I am more Filipino than you.” Naturally, he retorted, “How can you say that?” My answer: “I’ve been detained several times for advocacies on national issues.” Then, his reply was “How does that make you more Filipino than me?” “I put my life where my mouth is,” I emphatically said.
My erstwhile co-detainee from the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege, General Lim, was quiet; knowing him as a straightforward man of his word, I think he silently agreed with me. General Lim, I’m sure, would not tolerate the raging corruption of the system and had to resign his position in the present government.
I dispute the impulse of many Filipinos to treat China as an adversary and aggressor, and their penchant for labeling the pursuit of any other option as anti-Filipino.
I said in an open forum at a recent UP talk that “I resent this constant reference to China as ‘aggressor’ when the historical and continuing fact shows it’s the US and Britain.” To my surprise, the speaker, Central Intelligence Agency Asia expert Robert Sutter, responded, “Certainly, what China is doing is small cake compared with what the British and Americans have done.”
What China, Vietnam et al. are doing are not even “small cake” aggression, but probes and positioning with no intention to cause bloodshed or domination of another nation — with the promise of peaceful resolutions in the end.
In the recent China-Vietnam oil rig standoff, China has openly announced that it “will never send the military.”
China has been meticulous in following civilized international practice: In the 2012 Scarborough standoff with the Philippines, it only sent in its maritime surveillance ships when the Philippines used its BRP Gregorio del Pilar to arrest eight Chinese fishermen. In the USS Cowpens and oil rig imbroglio, China issued “no sail zone” alerts when the ship from a country 20,000 kilometers away tried to enter the zone, and when ships form Vietnam came up to the security perimeter of the oil rig.
Meanwhile, as five Asian countries are on a building campaign on their claims, with two in a steel-crunching test of wills, the Philippines is merely yakking to the media and whining before an international tribunal.
(Watch GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; tune in to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
