How to deal with China on disputed seas

As the tension between the Philippine and Chinese militaries escalate in the Scarborough (Panatag Shoal in Philippines), the Philippines, due to its economic standing and seemingly looking like a blip on the map (even in academic discussions), looks like an orphan. The Chinese government, as I have written on this blog site several times, has been using its controlled media to say that they have valid historical claims to the disputed shoal even if its 1,200 nautical miles away from the nearest land mass of China as opposed to the less than 200 nautical miles of the Philippines. But sheer analogy, if this is valid, the Italians can claim that the countries where the Roman Empire set foot in are theirs.

Chinese naval warship (Photo by Rajesh Jantilal/AFP)

The shoal being included in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, the Philippines has more rights over the shoal and it has more leverage if this is resolved using the UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOs). Because of the Chinese media's constant stream of flawed information passed on to their citizens (who are not even allowed to access independent media on television and Internet to balance different points of view), most mainland Chinese are blinded to the facts and branded the Philippines as a cry baby hiding the skirt of the United States, of which the Philippines has an enforceable Mutual Defence Treaty.

Someone wrote that the Philippines in an orphan in this battle of territorial rights over an important shoal (that is a traditional fishing ground of Filipino fishermen and also believed to contain rich natural gas and oil deposits) because the only reason the United States is helping thePhilippines is because it wants to bring its grip back to Southeast Asia which it has neglected for quite some time because of its focus on Iraq and Afghanistan. Historically, the Philippines was an important ally of the US during the World War II when it needed a base to counter-attack Japan. The relationship soured when nationalist sentiment pushed for the removal of the US bases in the 1990s. The US now has realized the importance of Southeast Asia again as it engages the growing China, that is becoming more arrogant its diplomacy.

Filipino protesters shout anti-China slogans as they march towards the Chinese consulate at a rally in Manila, Philippines

(Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP)

 Meanwhile, the Philippines cannot count on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) because the members the bloc is not only heterogeneous but also has members that cozy too much with China because of economic and tourism dependence. The Philippines will have to fend for its own if it decides to continue to show a brave front against China that brazenly threatens to even sink off Philippine military ships and fishermen boats in the area and even the Philippines as a whole. A Chinese military official said (although the government keeps on denying it)  they are ready to have a show of force against the Philippines and would not have any qualms of going to war with the Philippine if its to defend their ‘national territory’. The Philippines has urged that this dispute be resolved with the UN body but China has always insisted on a bilateral dispute resolution because it knows that the Philippines won’t have any fire power in terms of military or diplomacy. And by allowing the Philippines to drag this issue to UN dispute resolution, China basically opens a floodgate to settle issues of Tibet and Taiwan in an international tribunal.