President Rodrigo Duterte just this weekend said he would not dare go to war with China despite what it has been doing on the territory we claim. China is such a military might that we will certainly lose anyway.
All Mr. Duterte’s actions have pointed to his desire to keep our warm relations with our giant neighbor. Until a few days ago, even after the Chinese Navy reportedly harassed Filipino troops conducting resupply missions on Ayungin Shoal, even after the deployment of missile systems on Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, among other incursions, the President said he believed that asserting our sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea would mean trouble that we cannot handle.
Hence, he went for what he perceived was the alternative—doing nothing, staying nothing.
We winced every time China pushed the limits anew, and the President looked the other way, his underlings trying to spin the inaction, emphasis on “trying.”
We wondered why he would not even bring up a ruling favorable to us by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. China says the PCA does not have jurisdiction on it, but the PCA took the matter up anyway and decided that China’s so-called nine-dash line did not have basis at all.
We sought to explain Mr. Duterte’s too-accommodating posture —and found none except the promise of loans, investments and aid.
We were aghast at his openness to undertake joint exploration and development in contested areas, believed to be rich in oil and natural gas.
The hapless Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alan Cayetano, could do little else than agree with and defend the President’s position.
Fortunately, this week, the Palace stumbled into some good sense and finally filed a diplomatic protest against China. We wonder why it never realized it had this middle-way option before, or if it did, why it never exercised it in the first place.
To a layman, a diplomatic protest sounds like a contradiction in terms. But there really is such a thing, and we support this action that elevates our concern to the international community.
Still, never have the words “The President will not sit on our rights and never give away even an inch of territory” sounded so reassuring, even if they came belatedly.
It will be foolhardy for anybody to think this is still a political issue just because the senators who filed Resolution 761 this week, urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to file the protest amid China’s increasing militarization, were affiliated with the opposition. This is a grave matter that should transcend political divisions.
Will the protest achieve anything? It is too soon to tell, but at the very least it sends a message that we are not taking China’s bullying sitting down, and that we are doing something about the matter—by leaps and bounds better than doing nothing.