Santiago: Philippines like a mosquito in the face of a dragon like China

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A “mosquito” like the Philippines needs only to use its wits against a dragon like China in dealing with their territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago offered this simple yet smart solution, saying one way of dealing with China’s bullying  is for Manila to seek the help of its  allies in dealing with the dragon.

“We neither have money nor weapons.  Our only choice is to depend on the Western allies. Depending on the way we maneuver this situation, we must keep in mind that our allies need something from us just as we need something from them,” Santiago said at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado.

Relations between the Philippines and China have been severely strained by their rival claims over Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) off the Zambales coast and over parts of the Spratlys island chain near Palawan.

Santiago suggested that the Philippines ask allies like the United States,  Australia, Singapore and South Korea “that it would be in their best interest to protect the South China Sea from incursions by China.”

A dragon and gorilla

Santiago raised the point after noting that the Chinese government has stressed that the Philippines “must accept that the South China Sea belongs to China.”

“You don’t want to give China power over a … maritime territory that represents 10 percent of the fisheries catch of the entire world, in the sea lane where half of world’s tonnage passes,” she said.

“Let us tell the Western powers they would lose freedom of navigation over maritime commons if China is able to effectuate its desire to own the entire South China Sea,” she added.

“China is, to put it bluntly, a gorilla…We are mosquitoes and China is a dragon. Mosquitoes just buzz around your ear, you slap them and they’re dead… We cannot engage its economy.  We cannot engage in an arms race with (the Chinese). If we lack the power, then we use our brains,” the senator said.

Armed attack doubted

Santiago, a former chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee,  supported Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario’s request to the United States for surveillance aircraft and naval cutters that would allow the Philippines to monitor Chinese territorial incursions.

“But we don’t see equipment (being delivered) because the US is under no obligation,” she said.

Santiago said that if one read carefully the Mutual Defense Treaty, “the US will come to the Philippines’ defense only in case of armed attack.”

“That’s why China will never make an armed attack so that it can never be accused of launching an external armed attack that would trigger the implementation of the (treaty),” she said.

This is also the reason, she said, why China only uses “paramilitary naval vessels in the Spratlys and Scarborough and not military boats.”

Diplomacy doesn’t work

Santiago lamented that since the territorial disputes between China and the Philippines first erupted 25 years ago, “diplomacy never worked.  It’s like talking to a blind wall.”

She said this was because China refused to recognize international agreements such as the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which were crafted to settle disputes.

Santiago suggested taking the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) but warned that China had previously rejected the idea.

“The ICJ settles questions of boundaries and questions of sovereignty,” she said. “China already said it would not agree to the jurisdiction of ICJ and effectively rejected diplomacy and settlement through the international court.”

Only hope

“What (option) is left is power politics,” Santiago said. “We cannot engage in an arms buildup. China is just too big, too rich for us to catch up. So we turn to our allies—the US which has a Visiting Forces Agreement with us, Australia which has a pending VFA in the Senate, South Korea, Singapore and then fellow members in Asean with interest in the South China Sea, like Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

Santiago voted “no” in the second reading in the Senate of the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement with Australia.

But Santiago indicated a willingness to “rethink my position” on the issue if Australia, as well as other allies, would commit in writing that in case the Philippines came under attack, “not necessarily armed but victimized by threat or use of force, that they would come to our defense.”

“That’s our only hope, that they promise to come to help us just in case,” Santiago said.