CHINA’S aggressive behavior in the South China, with its big coast guard vessels teeming in front of small Philippine ships on humanitarian missions, is pain in the backside which should alarm other countries.
We heard Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro say the Philippines should continue its thrust towards “proactive diplomacy” and engagements with other like-minded countries in Southeast Asia and beyond.
That’s the art and science of maintaining peaceful relationships between nations, groups, or individuals.
The recent swarming by China of small Philippine vessels at the Ayungin Shoal strongly suggests an irresponsible behavior and underlines Teodoro’s belief Beijing is trying to change the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and international law.
What the Philippine defense chief is saying, in other words, is Beijing is converting the South China Sea into its territorial lake, reason it is using coast guard vessels which are huge and massive, equivalent to naval vessels, “to enforce domestic and criminal Chinese law in the whole of the South China Sea.”
“This is part of their illegal narratives and this is part of their move to unilaterally pound into submission other countries to acquiesce into their definition of what international law with respect to the law of the sea is,” he added.
China’s behavior should cause concern among peace-loving nations who should help the Philippines into exerting pressure on China into behaving responsibly and sensibly amid the continuing tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
Teodoro has said it aptly that the whole world should be worried because “if the South China Sea is constricted by China, then your supply chains are affected, international maritime order is affected, and for us in the Philippines, if we are not able to secure our EEZ, our existence as an archipelagic country under UNCLOS is in peril.”
We do not want to second guess what Teodoro has on his mind, but obviously he has with him the endorsing thoughts of national security officials.
We agree with him that while the Philippines should move the Chinese vessels out of our exclusive economic zone, that is easier said than done.
Which means there is a need to use active diplomacy by showing the international community how irresponsible China is, bullying a small neighbor like the Philippines, something it can as well do to other Southeast Asian nations that have territorial claims in the South China Sea.