REMEMBER these lines, folks: “Our independent foreign policy – a friend to all and enemy of none – has proven effective. We formed strategic alliances with our traditional and newfound partners in the international community,” said President Marcos Jr. during his second State of the Nation Address.
Words of wisdom or just lip service?
Let’s check it out if indeed, the “independent foreign policy” is effective or the one used in this current “flashpoint” in the South China Sea/West Philippines Sea, or perhaps it has vanished into thin air in favor of subservience to “American foreign policy.”
It has always been the South China Sea. One morning we woke up and there’s “West Philippines Sea”. How did that come about? Conjured out of thin air just like “red tagging”, the parallels are uncanny.
And this is how the nonsense started:
Sometime in June 2011 in the House of Representatives, Akbayan representative Walden Bello filed a resolution urging the government to look into the process of changing the name of the South China Sea to “Western Philippine Sea”, which resulted into naming the area through Administrative Order No. 29 issued by then-President Benigno Aquino III on September 5, 2012.
The West Philippine Sea refers only to the portions of the South China Sea which the Philippine government claims to be part of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
As expected, the term “West Philippine Sea” has been incorrectly using it to refer to the whole of the South China Sea.
Take note that, South China Sea is the dominant term used in English for the sea, and the name in most European languages is equivalent. This name is a result of early European interest in the sea as a route from Europe and South Asia to the trading opportunities of China. In the 16th century, Portuguese sailors called it the China Sea; later needs to differentiate it from nearby bodies of water led to calling it South China Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization refers to the sea as “South China Sea”.
By the way, as of today, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) has yet to produce an official map of the Philippines showing the “West Philippines Sea”. You see, it takes a law passed by Congress for them to do that. Again as of today no law exists yet, just an administrative order which will not suffice.
So, for those useful idiots shouting “the West Philippines Sea is ours” is like claiming a land without a title to show.
Lately, the “West Philippines Sea”/South China Sea has become the flashpoint in this part of the world mainly because of shifting economic and dominance interest of the United States, and we are being dragged into it.
And this is the dilemma now faced by current President Marcos Jr. Would he be swayed by this growing anti-China sentiment used by politicians with ulterior motives or remain a friend to all and enemy of none?
I believe President Marcos Jr. has taken the high ground with his preference for the diplomatic approach and not stooping down to the level of politicians playing on the so-called nationalism of the naïve Filipinos to promote their own political interests.
The Philippines would not be dragged into the ploy of heightening tensions in the West Philippine Sea by also resorting to the use of water cannons, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
The President rejected proposals for the Philippine Coast Guard to mount water cannons on its vessels, even as he emphasized that the Philippines will not take China’s aggression in stride. “We will not follow the Chinese Coast Guard and the Chinese vessels down that road because it’s simply… it is not the mission of our Navy, our Coast Guard to start or increase tensions.”
The last thing we would like is to raise the tensions in the West Philippine Sea. That’s the last thing. And that we’ll certainly not do.
Diplomacy indeed!/PN
