THE unauthorized and illegal sailing of China’s battleships in the Philippine waters without being accosted only shows the demeaning and weak Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The action of China violated the territory of the country. It was a direct assault on the country’s sovereign rights as a country and as people. China losses respect on the Filipinos because of the Philippine government’s willingness to become a “laughing stock” in Southeast Asia.
True, the government is raising diplomatic protest. However, a diplomatic protest is irrelevant to a country where human dignity is a taboo. A country driven by greed, whose power is derived out of the barrel of the gun, is disrespectful of life.
The Philippines must assert its sovereign rights at all costs. It has the right to sink an unknown vessel who refused to identify itself, much less, declare its purpose in sailing the Philippine sea.
When an unknown vessel (warship or not) sneaks unto the Philippine territory, without identifying itself, the AFP could use force to neutralize it. The AFP’s jet fighters must scramble and bomb the unknown vessel who refused to communicate and declare their intention.
This is discussed in response to a query on how to deal with China’s battleships, which sneak throught the Philippine waters without communicating to the AFP. The reply is direct and certain: Sink them!
If the Chinese battleship responds, then the battleground is drawn in the area where the incident is taking place. It does not mean that the Philippines would be officially at war with China. After all, it is Congress who could declare war against any country.
The military action taken by the Philippines would, however, send a strong message to China that the Philippines could not be bullied by any country professing to be militarily powerful. When a robber sneaks and enters a house, the occupants have the right to depend themselves by all means.
One remembers Taiwan, a fraction of a nation who refused to be bullied by China. In 1949 and during China’s infamous “cultural revolution,” thousands fled from mainland China and settled in Formosa, now known as Taiwan.
The settlers of Taiwan then were known as the “Koumintang.” The Koumintang Party State has their own “National Revolutionary Army” also known as the Republic of China Armed Forces when the Republic of China was promulgated in the 1947 constitution.
The Republic of China Armed Forces fled the mainland China toward Taiwan after losing the civil war to the communist in 1949. One of the major opponents of the RCAF was the communist People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the army of the modern day aggressor, China.
At present, China claims Taiwan to be part of their country and wants to attach to the mainland China at all costs. The Taiwanese government refused and maintain its independence as a sovereign nation. In response to China’s threat that it would take Taiwan at all costs, the Taiwan government warned China that it would shoot down any fighter jets that will encroach Taiwan’s airspace.
Que vadis, Philippines? Isn’t it a shame knowing Taiwan, a small country, but willing to fight and protect its people as a sovereign nation? Perhaps, the Philippines is the most friendly nation around the world that it is able to shallow its pride amid insult, mockery, and bullying by countries whose “means” of existence is through saber-rattling and harassment. -0-
