Why PH is now at the frontline against China’s ‘expansionist ambitions’

This handout satellite image released by Maxar Technologies on March 24, 2024 and dated March 23, 2024 shows Chinese and Philippine ships in waters where the Philippines said the China Coast Guard blocked their supply vessel and damaged it with water cannon, during a Philippine supply mission near Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. —Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines —The country is now at the frontline against China’s “expansionist ambitions” in the South China Sea, thanks to what experts think is due to the country’s hardline and vocal stance in upholding its sovereign rights.

“We are at the frontline [against] the expansionist ambitions of China,” Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, naval spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Trinidad made the remark amid perceived tolerance of China when it comes to Vietnam’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea.

Analysts agreed with Trinidad’s observation, noting that no other South China Sea claimants experienced similar levels of Beijing’s belligerence towards Manila.

“That is true,” said geopolitical analyst Don Mclain Gill, in a message to INQUIRER.net on Tuesday, of the navy official’s remarks.

“No country in the region comes close to the level of belligerence China has been demonstrating towards us in our own waters,” Gill, a lecturer at the De La Salle University’s Department of International Studies, further said.

For a military analyst and a retired Navy official, such a treatment from Beijing is due to Manila’s “vocal” stance against their actions in the West Philippine Sea.

“China treats us differently because we are the most vocal against their actions in the South China Sea,” said Rommel Jude Ong, a retired Philippine Navy rear admiral and a professor at the Ateneo School of Government, in a message to INQUIRER.net on Tuesday.

Making an example

“They are more belligerent because they want to make an example of us to prevent the rest of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to follow us and rise up against the Chinese Communist Party,” Ong further said.

Ong then noted that other Asean states have “more calibrated approach in dealing with China.”

Apart from China and the Philippines, Asean countries such as Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam are also claimants of Spratly Islands inside the South China Sea.

Maritime features of Spratly inside the western section of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines—locally known as the West Philippine Sea—are locally known as the Kalayaan Island Group.

Despite the overlapping claims, China asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, through its now ten-dash-line.

A July 2016 arbitral award which stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013 already invalidated Beijing’s then nine-dash-line.

Vietnam’s reclamation

However, China refuses to acknowledge this landmark ruling, causing tensions with claimant countries like the Philippines and Vietnam.

Beijing resorted to usage of water cannons to thwart Manila’s resupply mission in the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal to prevent the bringing of construction materials for the naval outpost.

While China resorted to usage of water cannons against Vietnam’s vessels in the past times, observers noticed that Beijing did not show the same amount of belligerence despite Hanoi’s ongoing reclamation in the South China Sea features it occupies.

Ong then noted that Beijing’s action against Hanoi is focused on its oil exploration sites.

As of November 2023, the reclamation works of Vietnam, which occupies the most number of features in South China Sea, have reached 955 hectares, according to the report of think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

PH-Vietnam have friendly relations, but…

Even Manila shrugged off this development, saying it was conducted outside its exclusive economic zone.

“We do not observe any illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions [by Vietnam]. We have friendly relations with Vietnam,” Trinidad said, but noting that their activities are being addressed by appropriate government agencies.

But South China Sea monitor Ray Powell noted that Vietnam’s reclamation activities causes “severe environmental impact” and “further militarization” of the South China Sea.

“The Philippines should be concerned about this development, but it does not represent the clear and present danger that Beijing’s extreme aggression presents,” Powell, who heads the program of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told INQUIRER.net in a message on Wednesday.

“Manila’s muted response to Vietnam’s actions have to be seen in light of this stark reality,” he further said.

READ: TIMELINE: The Reed Bank incident

Partner

On the other hand, security expert Chester Cabalza said that Hanoi could be Manila’s strategic partner against Beijing’s actions in the West Philippine Sea.

“Hanoi does not bully Filipino fishers and coast guardians unlike what Beijing does to Manila,” Cabalza, president and founder of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told INQUIRER.net in a message.

Gill also recalled a 2019 incident in the Recto (Reed) Bank where a Filipino fishing boat sank after it was hit by a Chinese trawler. The 22 fishermen struggled to stay afloat for four hours until a Vietnamese fishing vessel rescued them.

“It was the Vietnamese who saved our Filipino fishing crew at sea when China rammed our vessel and left the crew members to die,” Gill noted.

Cabalza said: “Any disparity between Manila and Hanoi can be discussed amicably with Vietnam due to mutual trust and cooperation.”