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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Our ‘frenemy’ China

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Is China our friend or our enemy? Or both, that is, a “frenemy”?

Increasingly, it looks like it’s the latter, because of its behavior in the South China Sea.

The latest incident that shows China considers us an enemy is the reported harassment by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel on February 6.

According to the PCG, a China Coast Guard ship directed a “military-grade” laser at one of its vessels, putting the Filipino crew in danger. The PCG vessel was supporting a rotation and resupply mission of the Philippine Navy in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

What happened was that the Chinese ship crossed the bow of the PCG ship at a distance of 7.4 km (4 nautical miles), as if to warn BRP Malapascua to stop or alter course.

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This was followed by “dangerous maneuvers,” with CCG 5205 a close distance of about 150 yards from the starboard quarter of the Philippine vessel before the Chinese ship shone its laser.

The two sides exchanged radio challenges throughout, with the Chinese vessel warning the PCG ship was “in the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China.”

The PCG is correct in condemning the Chinese action.

This was a provocative act that could have led to an escalation of simmering tensions in the South China Sea.

We know that Ayungin Shoal, a submerged reef 194 km off Palawan province, is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.

That is why our Navy maintains its presence there through the derelict vessel BRP Sierra Madre.

When President Marcos Jr. visited China in early January, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was willing to find a compromise and a solution to the territorial and maritime dispute in the South China Sea.

Whatever happened to that promise?

Was it something uttered merely to please his visitors, but totally bereft of sincerity?

The Philippine government even suggested that the two sides should establish a hotline to prevent any escalation of tensions between the two navies/Coast Guards in the high seas.

It turns out that no such hotline is now in place.

Since 2016, the Philippines has filed 461 diplomatic protests against China over repeated incursions in the West Philippine Sea, according to the DFA.

But with no action on the part of Beijing to mend its ways, a “frenemy” is really how we should consider them, and adjust our bilateral relations accordingly.

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