Geopolitical strategy

WHILE China was prepared to talk, it would not back down on the construction in the South China Sea as it maintains that it is something that falls fully within the scope of China’s sovereignty.

The determination of the Chinese to safeguard their own sovereignty and territorial integrity is as firm as a rock, and it is unshakable, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

The statement was the response of Minister Wang when US Secretary of State John Kerry, in his two-day visit to Beijing, “urged China… to take actions that will join with everybody in helping to reduce tensions and increase the prospect of a diplomatic solution” in the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

What else is new? There were talks between US diplomats and Chinese officials in the past, and there seemed to be no stopping the People’s Liberation Army and Navy in its militarization of the SCS. Is the US being too soft on China and will just have to tolerate its actions despite the growing protests of the other SCS claimants?

I really have to rethink what Ferdie Pasion said in his text message that the “US wants the Philippines to be ‘China’s Ukraine’ to ‘sap the resources’ of China and stop the rapid rise of China and Asean’s economies. The only problem is that, it is us, Pinoys, who will have to do the ‘dying’ at the altar of this evil experiment of the American military industrial complex. No to war! No to massive depopulation through American – instigated war between China and the Philippines! China is willing to have bilateral talks with the Philippines but what the US wants is a multilateral dialogue among the claimants and China which is not what China wants ever since.”

In Ferdie’s viewpoint, China wants peace but the US wants war to erupt between China and the Philippines because in the process, the American private corporations will earn while the Filipinos will die in a war that we can never win.
This is the sad reality: aside from being shortchanged we will always play as their cannon fodder.

The so-called talks between Kerry and Xi are all for a show because there seemed to be an understanding between the two superpowers on how they will both benefit from this part of the region by using us and all our country’s riches.

From the words of Dr. Sukjoon Yoon (a retired Captain of the Republic of Korea Navy) in his article “Why is China Militarising the South China Sea?”: “Sadly, therefore, we should see the militarisation of the South China Sea as a misguided statement of China’s political choices, rather than an expression of military flexibility. For more than 10 years now, the PLAN’s naval modernisation has focused on the assertive manifestation of solid naval power. Of course, this has disturbed China’s neighbours, the small and weak Asean countries, as well as sending the wrong signals to Japan and the United States: this is not the way to become a true maritime power.

“Throughout history, most maritime powers striving for “command” of their seas to protect their national commerce and other interests have faced severe financial and military resources deficits, so that absolute sea control has remained a matter of political imagination.

“True, naval powers respect their neighbours and cooperate with them; maritime peace and prosperity is best maintained by recognising maritime domains protected by properly codified international law: purely military tools are insufficient.

“The South China Sea disputes are unnecessarily complicating China’s own progress: surely China’s “peaceful rise” should contribute to the common destiny of East Asia. On a more positive note, the PLAN is starting to develop a conceptual understanding of modern naval warfare and to incorporate this into its strategic approach. This militarisation of the South China Sea is a fruitless distraction: China will only become a true maritime power by making further adjustments to outdated mindsets, both within the PLAN and also in the wider political leadership.”
There’s even a joke that during the meeting of China’s president Xi Jin Ping with Kerry, the US Secretary whispered to Xi to stop invading the Pacific Ocean, the perceived US territory, and just mind China’s business in its nine-dash line control of South China Sea.

We have to be wary and united in order to survive a geopolitical strategy being played against us.