The escalating tension in the South China Sea is not just about a face-off between superpower United States and a rising China. In his book, “Asia’s Cauldron,” author Robert Kaplan sees the simmering South China Sea situation a threat to the region’s peace and security and the flow of commerce vital to the well-being of the whole world.
Freedom of navigation ensures that trillions of dollars worth of commercial cargo, including oil tankers carrying crude oil from the Middle East to the rest of Asia. This is why the US wants its warships to conduct joint patrol with other Southeast Asian nations, according to Admiral Harry Harris of the US Pacific Command. Harris gave a briefing to Southeast Asian journalists at a US naval base in Hawaii where the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was docked, providing a backdrop of America’s naval power and reach in the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.
In its familiar twisted thinking and doublespeak, Beijing claims the US is militarizing the South China Sea. China started it all by imposing a nine-dash line that claimed nearly the entire SCS. China then reclaimed land from the sea to make artificial islands out of the protruding reefs, rocks and shoals to build military installations complete with an airstrip and a naval base to fortify its claim. The latest military flexing and show of strength was China’s deployment of surface-to-air missile systems and fighter jets in a disputed island in the Paracels claimed by Vietnam.
So, who’s militarizing the South China Sea?
There are also some quarters who suggest Manila should go easy in its arbitral challenge to Beijing’s sweeping claim until a new president is sworn in after the May 9 elections. But why wait and give China more time to consolidate its claim as it is doing now? The Hague international arbitration court is expected to hand down a ruling in two or three months. If favorable to Manila, Beijing which refused to recognize The Hague Court jurisdiction has made known it won’t abide by the court’s ruling. But so what? Let China suffer the consequences of world opinion and perhaps trade sanctions by the international community who should have the gumption to impose it.
China with its strong economy dependent on its export manufacturing sector and oil imports could be brought down to its knees if it does not conform with international law. Like the Philippines, China is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which mandates a 200-mile exclusive economic zone for countries with coastal lines. China, whose nearest coast line Hainan is more than 800 nautical miles from the West Philippine Sea, grabbed the shoals and reefs within the country’s territorial waters.
Ocean waters rising
The level of the world’s oceans has risen by four inches in the last century, according to a global study. The rise in sea level was attributed to climate change brought by melting ice glaciers in Artarctica and global warming due to the constant use of fossil fuel. The heating of the earth’s atmosphere also warms the oceans’ waters which raises the sea level. The effect of this phenomenom was shown in Hurricane Katrina’s sea surge which swept New Orleans and Super Typhoon “Yolanda” which devastated Leyte and parts of eastern Visayas.
Swollen seas and an underwater earthquake triggered a tsunami that claimed more than 6,000 lives in the Thai resort of Phuket. The tsunami had a ripple effect pushing high sea levels against the coastlines of Indonesia, India and Maldives.
In Europe, the Italian city of Venice is slowly sinking with waist-high flood waters in 2008. Portents of things to come can be seen in Metro Manila which experiences floodwaters whenever it rains. It’s more than a clogged drainage system but also the rising water in Manila Bay and Laguna lake.
Extra focus on Edsa
With President Benigno Aquino III exiting soon in June, extra attention was showered on the 30th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution this week. But more than that, could it be because another Marcos looms as vice president in the coming May 9 national elections?
With Aquino leading this year’s People Power commemoration, a museum at Camp Aguinaldo showcasing the horrors of martial law was also opened to the public as a reminder of the Marcos dictatorship. Minority Floor Leader Senator Juan Ponce Enrile maintains it was a military coup that was hijacked by People Power.
Aquino, in his keynote address at Edsa, said “I’m what I am because of martial law,” as he recalled how his family suffered starting with the incarceration of his father, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and their eventual exile in Boston. So he also blames his own six-year misrule on Marcos and martial law.