A fishy incident
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The Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) latest protest against China for its increasing acts of intimidation in the areas which are clearly within the country’s boundary clearly lacks conviction in that it does not carry the presidential imprimatur.
The DFA issued a strongly-worded protest against China the other day, saying the acts of the China lately have been undermining peace and stability in the region by deploying naval vessels in clearly undisputed territories in the region, meaning these are already incursions within the Philippine territory.
Any country with a more potent armed forces would have classified such incursions an act of aggression and would have sent their naval or air forces to chase away the invaders. But the country with its puny defense forces can only send out diplomatic protests against such clearly deliberate actions from China.
The Chinese strategy appears to be grounded on intimidation, to scare the Philippine government--enough to lay to rest its claim on the disputed Spratlys.
The Chinese also appear to be using at the same time a carrot and stick approach on the Philippines through actions that appeared to have already weighed the capabilities of Noynoy.
China just recently sent one of its top defense officials to the country merely a few days before the DFA protest.
During the visit, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie indicated to Noynoy that China is supporting a peaceful solution to the Spratlys dispute.
The visit came after a series of incidents in which China’s navy vessels harassed Philippine ships traveling in areas that are indisputably Philippine territories which China defended as actions to protect its interests in the Spratlys.
Harassed from the start of this year were a government exploration vessel, a military patrol aircraft and Filipino fishing boats, all of which were reported belatedly.
The DFA protest was strong in that it accused China of coming up with a provocative act that impinges on the security, not only in the Philippines, but the entire Asian region which can be considered accurate since China’s incursions touch on not only the Philippines but the other claimants of the Spratlys.
What was sorely lacking was Noynoy’s statement on the issue despite the protest handed out by the DFA.
In the protest letter, the DFA said that the Chinese vessels, which are the cause of the diplomatic protest, hampered the normal and legitimate fishing activities of the Filipino fishermen in the area and undermine the peace and stability of the region.
The DFA further added the Chinese vessels committed actions that are serious violations of Philippine sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction.
The protest message was issued and sent to the Chinese Embassy on June 2, which was a follow up to the protest filed by the country in the Reed Bank incident in March where an oil exploration vessel was harassed by the Chinese navy. Reed Bank is within the Philippines 200-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
The meeting between Noynoy and Liang resulted in a noticeably adulterated position, at least on the part of Noynoy who said that the friction in the Spratlys should be resolved diplomatically, adding that the recent buzzing of Philippine aircraft by modern Chinese jetfighters was merely sensationalized by the media although the Philippine Air Force actually reported the incident.
The first incident in which a government vessel was stalked by the Chinese navy, Noynoy issued a strong protest to the Chinese Embassy.
What happened in the meeting that caused Noynoy to mellow down is everybody’s guess.
On the latest Chinese provocative actions, Noynoy has been noticeably dead silent.
The actions of China were a clear challenge to the capability of Noynoy to resolve the issue.
Keeping silent as what he does every time a grave issue confronts him will be a big mistake in this instance.
As president, the nation expects him to respond in kind to a foreign provocative action.
A strong protest from the DFA is good but it will not do.
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