By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Little, if at all, has been told in local mainstream media about the banging turning point in the maritime security and control struggle in the West Philippine Sea over the weekend.
I have only come across the Forbes and Esquire articles of how the military response of the Philippines and its strongest defense ally, the United States, forced the Chinese militia fleet to anchor up and flee Julian Felipe Reef after six weeks of swarming.
To be specific, the Philippine Navy deployed four of its most advanced warships, including two brand-new missile-guided frigates – the “BRP Jose Rizal” and “BRP Antonio Luna.” This is an apparent military response to Beijing’s clucking claims that its militia vessels, crewed by former People’s Liberation Army men, are fishing boats seeking refuge from bad weather.
Well, even worse for China, the seas were bringing in “bad news” to replace the “bad weather.” This, however, is “good news” for the Philippines in the form of two US naval war fleets being deployed to our territorial waters – one led by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the other by USS Makin Island. Maritime security experts describe both as formidable assault ships that carry attack aircraft or stealth strike-fighters and tag along submarines, destroyers, and cruisers for escorts.
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But then again, nothing as of this writing has been confirmed by the parties. Only experts read into the signs from official statements that have been consistent with previous diplomatic messaging – that the reef is ours, that the incursion is internationally illegal, and that any act of war on the Philippines triggers the mutual defense treaty with America.
Prior to this deployment of naval forces, President Xi Jinping has turned a deaf ear to all this. The diplomatic protests filed by the Philippines had been piling up on China’s desk, equaled only by ridiculous excuses dished out by its embassy in Manila.
One thing clear though is that Filipinos have pent-up emotions over the swarming incursion of over 200 Chinese maritime militia vessels in Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef), our sovereign property, since early March. The nation’s patience has been wearing thinner and thinner in the last six weeks.
Even the Chinese government’s best friend in the country who takes residence in Malacanang only appears to be chilling over the issue but might as well be burning in his stomach. His spokesperson, Harry Roque, dropped a hint last week, saying President Duterte was quietly working on the issue.
Mum as the Palace might be, compared with the bold warnings given by our Defense and Foreign Affairs secretaries to China, there is no denying that the naval maneuvers of the Philippines and the US to protect the West Philippine Sea is a well-coordinated effort that could have only been pulled off by a shoulder-to-shoulder response warranted by both Washington and Malacanang.
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Experts quoted by Forbes say China had blinked. But in retrospect, this corner believes the Philippines deserves more credit for its measured and well-calculated response well before Day 1 of China’s attempted maritime expansion into our Exclusive Economic Zone.
Beijing’s fault of occupying 27 maritime geographical features for its military outposts in the South China and East China Seas has given away the blueprint of its creeping annexation tactics. As I have said before, we are no strangers to this war of attrition waged by China.
We have seen them move into our Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) and swarm Sandy Cay, the sandbar close to our Pag-asa Island. As they say of this ruse, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” It never said anything about being tricked thrice.
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