A Citizen's Perspective on the China-US Syndrome

The Philippines is now facing a very difficult geopolitical situation where its territorial integrity is threatened by the highly expansionist ambition of China, an emerging world superpower which may eclipse soon the present lone superpower, the United States of America. The Spratlys has now become a dangerous bone of contention among several countries of which China is the most powerful and overly aggressive while the Philippines is the weakest militarily.  

Furthermore, our country is in an unenviable situation as even its incontestable territory is encroached by the overreaching China which is invoking its historical rights that is now deemed obsolete by the international community. Who knows that in the near future, China becomes so inebriated with its new found might that it dares declare its historical rights over the whole Philippine archipelago. Since some delegations from pre-Spanish Filipino sultanates would regularly bring tributes to the court of the Chinese emperor, then the country could be considered a vassal state then of China.

USS Chung-Hoon

BRP Rajah Humabon

The US governmment, through its Ambassador to the Philippines, reassured our country of the Americans' support for our territorial integrity which assurance was followed by the reported dispatch of the US Navy's guided missile destroyer "USS Chung-Hoon" to Manila. This somewhat boosted the confidence of our officials thus the Philippine Navy's biggest warship "BRP Rajah Humabon" was sent reportedly for patrol operations around Scarborough Shoal in the Philippine Sea. 

With such morale-boosting developments, it's disheartening to note that some grandstanding politicians deplored US's acts of support as an affront to our sovereignty. These pseudo-nationalists conveniently forgot that though they succeeded to end the presence of American bases in the Philippines, they neglected to develop the country's military defense capabilities. Many of them partook in the rape of the national wealth to enrich themselves and their political patrons.

Nevertheless, the Philippines remains in a very difficult situation of maintaining its independence without antagonizing its immensely powerful neighbor, China. It's the harsh reality of geopolitics that a small nation like ours can never depend on its long time ally, the US, in case of conflict. Despite the present show of support, there were many instances in the past  where the US abandoned us. Remember that after World War II, the US attended to the massive rehabilitation of Japan, its former enemy, rather than the Philippines, its loyal and dependable ally.  

Regarding our claims on Sabah against Malaysia, a former British colony, the US refused to support  us. Of course, the most glaring of the Americans' shabby treatment of the country was when the US reneged on President Roosevelt's promise to compensate the Philippines for all its properties lost during World War II. Furthermore, the Filipino war veterans who served under the American flag were granted benefits much less than the American war veterans, belatedly and niggardly. The saying "History repeats itself" is worth considering in our relations with the US and China.

As a mere ant, we must avoid being caught in a confrontation between two (2) warring elephants. Still, the planned military capability upgrade is a step in the right direction which hopefully will not be delayed by pseudo-nationalists and corrupt government subalterns for the sake of our country.