"It’s the honorable way out."
"It’s the honorable way out."
It was the US that placed the Philippines in a juggernaut position with China in the Panatag Shoal. But the basic question is, can we proceed to drive away China in some of the islets we insist are ours? We can negotiate peacefully on a bilateral basis as our honorable way out. It may not be our best choice, but it is our only way to escape from the US-created logjam purposely intended to perpetually place us in state of war with China.
To be clear, it was through Kurt Campbell, US Assistant Secretary of State, who principally instigated the issue by purposely informing Philippine ambassador to the US, Jose Cuisia, that accordingly, he (Campbell) already reached an understanding with the former Chinese ambassador to the country, Fu Ying, that there would be a simultaneous withdrawal of warships after an almost 10 week stand-off in the Panatag Shoal.
To my mind, it is no longer important whether China reneged to comply with that unverified claim of Campbell for a simultaneous withdrawal from Panatag Shoal. What we need is to clarity the facts thoroughly. First, we never lost a territory as some jingoists are now saying. The Panatag Shoal is not a territory or an island which resulted in a diminution to our territory. We merely lost a rich fishing ground for our fishermen. Second, we began to consider Panatag Shoal as part of our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) only in 1978 after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) was ratified. Before that, Panatag Shoal has never been considered as within the territorial boundary of the Philippines archipelago demarcated in the Treaty of Paris on Dec.10, 1898.
For the fact that China is a signatory of the UNCLOS, she now adheres to the new principle demarcated as 200-mile EEZ. This perhaps explains why China remains conciliatory. While there is no such thing as estoppel in international law, somehow China has refrained from openly raising the issue of ownership over the shoal, for possibly, the Philippines could also raise that Panatag Shoal is 170 miles from the nearest shoreline of Zambales province or well within the EEZ.
The US knew that Panatag Shoal could serve as flashpoint in the relations between the Philippines and China. It is for this why many suspected that Campbell took the initiative of fabricating his version of his meeting with Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Fu Ying to tell Cuisia that he allegedly reached an understanding that Chinese coast guard vessels will withdraw from the area. Campbell anticipated that Ambassador Cuisia would convey the message to Del Rosario.
In that, it is clear that the US wanted to create a situation where there would be a flashpoint between the Philippines and China. The country would always be on the alert, because at any time a conflict could erupt without our policy-makers taking a second look that the tension was carefully maneuvered by Kurt Campbell. What he did was a classic case of Machiavellian duplicity. It was to the US interest that a perpetual tension exists between the China and the Philippines hoping ASEAN would rally to support us with the US taking a standby position of acting as big brother.
While there is no direct evidence how the US orchestrated the tension with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Del Rosario playing as conduit, it is clear that the US has been monitoring what transpired in the lagoon. The information relayed by Campbell to Cuisia is a false narrative that allegedly, the Chinese coast guard would also withdraw. As expected, Cuisia conveyed this to Del Rosario.
As Vice Minister Fu Ying wrote in pamphlet titled, Huangyan Dao (Panatag), and What happened in 2012, A Witness Account: “…why would the Philippine navy blatantly provoke China at Huangyan Dao (Panatag) and take such extreme actions against Chinese fishermen? And, why would it want to challenge China? Such actions were all but incomprehensible, but one could not help but wonder what kind of driving force was behind the Philippine behavior x x x.”
“From May 30 to June 2, I was attending an international forum in Virginia x x x Campbell came to see me x x x in June 1. He was visibly upset that the Chinese fishermen had blocked the entrance to the lagoon with a rope to prevent the Philippine warship from entering, x x x. After hearing him out patiently, I asked him a question that had troubled me for quite a while: why did the Philippines boldly provoked China by harassing the fishermen in the first place? The Filipinos said that the warships were sent to monitor missiles launched by the DPRK, however, this could not explain their behavior. Specifically I asked, “What role did the US play in the Huangyan Dao incident?” I also added, “Of course, if you are not in a position to answer, I absolutely understand. But if you are, please tell me the truth.”
“Campbell agreed with me (Fu Ying) that the Philippine government vessels should leave the lagoon, and hoped that China would do the same, which would be a reasonable way out. I said I did not have the authorization to promise anything, but as the Chinese law enforcement boats went into the lagoon to protect Chinese fisherman from the Philippine armed vessels, if the Philippines did withdraw, then, I thought there would be no need for the Chinese law enforcement boats to stay on the lagoon. In any case, before the incident, Chinese law enforcement boats rarely entered the lagoon and mostly stayed in the waters outside the entrance.”
“Campbell told me that the US was going to explicitly request the Philippines to “handle the issue with great caution,” and expressed the hope that China would withdraw its law enforcement boats once the Philippine vessels leave. Campbell and the Philippine Foreign Secretary Rosario are good friends, and he managed to quickly persuade Rosario to remove their vessels from the lagoon…”
“In the Philippines, the DFA publicly confirmed that the government vessels from both sides had withdrawn from the Huangyan Dao lagoon by June 5. x x x After the incident, President Aquino sent his friends Antonio F. Trillanes IV and Li Yongnian as special envoys to visit China in the hope of turning the page and put bilateral relations back on track. x x x The Philippine Foreign Secretary Rosario soon started to “spin” the story. He claimed that China persuading the US to put pressure on the Philippines to withdraw and itself now had occupied the Scarborough (Huangyan Dao). Clearly, Rosario was trying to create controversy, and to challenge the right of the Chinese surveillance ships to remain in the area to “watch over Huangyan Dao.” As we know later, he was already preparing to bring the matter to international arbitration. Rosario’s key working assumption was that the Philippines had been in rightful possession of Huangyan Dao, which was now lost to China.”
Be that as it may, despite the brink of war we almost had with China over a fishing ground, it remains open to bilateral negotiations to resolve the dispute. China is offering the usual win-win formula, which is far better than a lose—lose formula for there is no way we can win except to unnecessarily sacrifice the lives of our people in a war premeditatedly laid down for us by the US. The offer of bilateral talks is a positive signal that China is still willing to settle its differences with us without the US playing the role “big brother” to justify its presence and meddling in the internal affairs of countries littoral to South China Sea.