Mauro Gia Samonte
A MOST classic statement I got about my book, China The Way, The Truth and The Life, is one from one of its endorsers. A straightforward, no-nonsense lady who had been one of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s legacies of uprightness and incorruptibility, she was quite adamant when I sought her out for sponsorship of the anthology of my articles on China that have found print in my column since 2015.
“Why would I sponsor your book when the Chinese are intruding into our territorial waters?”
I was flabbergasted, to say the least. I did not expect the reaction from someone who is related to me by blood. It was a good thing that I had this intransigence to get her support for the book project. I told myself: If my book was not good enough for a relative, how in the hell could I expect non-relations to like it? And so I found myself turning into an impromptu evangelist of sorts, haranguing her with arguments that are in fact already made an integral part of the book. You know, like how a voice from heaven had astounded Paul, shaking him off from his deep resentment of Christians whom he in fact persecuted. I came home that late afternoon comfortable in my success at, like Paul’s conversion, talking the lady out of her prejudice toward China.
When the book finally came out, she even ordered a large number of copies so she could make them her giveaways for Christmas last year. That sort of teed off a happy process of bulk orders coming in for the book, notable among these being those made by Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc.; by Wilson Lee Flores of the famed Pandesal Forum of the 82-year-old Kamuning Bakery Café; and a visiting Hong Hong journalist who requested not to be identified. The very amiable fellow promised to market the book not only in Hong Kong but also in mainland China.
What is my point?
That Filipinos have been so mind-poisoned against the Chinese that when US rah-rah boys raise the issue of Chinese presence in the South China Sea (renamed West Philippine Sea during the Benigno Aquino 3rd administration), Filipino folk take it as gospel truth.
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The continuing outcry about a couple of hundred Chinese vessels mooring on Julian Felipe Reef is the latest American effort to rouse up the Filipinos against China for alleged incursion into Philippine territorial waters. A statement from Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. has clarified that the feature is not part of the country’s exclusive economic zone. Julian Felipe Reef is considered an island that generates its own continental shelf apart from that of the Philippines, hence, by the Unclos yardstick, cannot be deemed as belonging to the country. Let experts on the matter, like Ambassador Alberto Encomienda, expound on this topic so we get a thorough enlightenment on the issue in all its various technical and historical ramifications. I will limit myself to a layman’s perception: that the Julian Felipe Reef is just one of many features already occupied by China together with those possessed by Vietnam and Malaysia.
On the outcry against Chinese incursions, why must we zero in on Julian Felipe Reef and not likewise protest the Vietnamese and Malaysian annexations of territories in the area?
Well, to begin with, we don’t have any quarrel with Vietnam and Malaysia, no matter that with the latter there is the Sabah issue, which should belong in an entirely different context. But with the Chinese, there is always some kind of built-in war trigger that can be manipulated by America at the slightest excuse. For this reason, while the couple of hundred Chinese ships were forced to dock on Julian Felipe Reef as a force majeure (bad weather had prompted the Chinese vessels to seek shelter in the cove of the boomerang-shaped island), the tandem of retired Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario instantly seized upon the incident and promoted it as “Chinese aggression.” The effort at creating war hysteria against China has appeared quite successful such that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. has been incessant in delivering one diplomatic protest after another, appearing bent on pushing the country closer to the brink of military confrontation with the Asian behemoth.
Evidently piqued by Roque’s declaration that the Julian Felipe Reef is not in the Philippines exclusive economic zone, Locsin sort of issued a reprimand: “This is my last warning. When it comes to foreign affairs the Department of Foreign Affairs has the exclusive remit.”
That’s practically saying that on the Julian Felipe Reef rift with China, Locsin is his own man – exclusive even of President Duterte!
That smacks of insubordination, I would say. And that should horrify the nation. The country’s foreign secretary is drawing power from elsewhere and he is wielding that power to execute a virtual insubordination of his very president.
This must indicate a determined push of US stooges of America’s war designs on China.
The Julian Felipe Reef incident has given America a big edge in its propaganda tussle with China over the South China Sea. It’s high time China realized this is an area where it has been losing ground to the United States.
Particularly in the Philippines where Sinophobia has been deeply rooted over time, a special stress must be made to neutralize this. Evidently, the traditional means of propaganda – social media, mainstream media, which are dominated by pro-US operatives – can no longer serve the Chinese purpose in this area.
An unorthodox way of propagandizing the Chinese cause is called for.
Republished from Manila Times 22 May 2021