OPINION | China’s misleading statements

August 20, 2024 , 09:04 PM

By Manny Mogato

(August 20, 2024) — China has accused the Philippine Coast Guard of deliberately crashing two of its multi-role response vessels (MMRVs) into China’s Coast Guard vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

A Chinese Coast Guard spokesman claimed the Philippines’ Parola-class patrol vessels ignored warnings and intentionally collided with their ships.

These are falsehoods. The statements were intentionally deceptive. China’s narratives are crafted to deceive the international community.

The evidence showed a different story—the truth: the Chinese vessels rammed into the Japanese-built Philippine Coast Guard vessels.

If China was telling the truth, why would one of the Philippine Coast Guard vessels sustain damage on its starboard? The other was hit on both portside and starboard.

If the Philippines deliberately collided with the Chinese ships, why did the Chinese Coast Guard ships not sustain any structural damage?

China has been known for its propaganda and disinformation campaign. It thinks the international community would fall on its narrative.

Beijing got it all wrong. No state, not even its allies within Southeast Asia, supported its narrative. No state in its right mind would support China’s narrative in the West Philippine Sea.

Perhaps these states were also worried about China’s expansive and excessive claims on the South China Sea. They were equally apprehensive of China’s hegemony and coercive actions in disputed waters and on many things, including trade and investments.

For instance, China was twisting the arms of the Australians when they had trade disputes over wines, beef, lobsters, and barley.

China imposed high tariffs and non-tariff barriers that hurt the Australian agricultural exports due to Canberra’s criticism over the South China Sea, human rights and Xinjiang, and the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.

How could smaller and weaker states with no leverage stand up to China? They will choose to remain silent, stay neutral and not comment on the big power rivalry between China and the United States.

The Philippines is now bearing the brunt of China’s bullying in the West Philippine Sea because it chose to stand up against Beijing and took the side of Washington.

It was wrong to assume that China did not bully the Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte because the two countries had close and special relations.

Of course, these bullying were largely unreported by the Philippine authorities during the six year Duterte was in power.

The Chinese Coast Guard vessels were also blasting local fishermen with water cannons and were ramming their wooden boats.

China will not back down. The South China Sea is very important for China’s national security. It is a natural buffer zone to push the US Navy and its allies away from its shorelines.

It also provided a rich source of protein for its people and energy to power its industries that drive economic growth.

However, the Philippines will not also back down. The West Philippine Sea is the lifeblood of its economy. The seas also hold large deposits of energy resources to fuel its economic engines.

It must also protect its national security by securing the disputed waters, pushing China away from its shorelines.

The Philippines and China have similar strategic interests in the disputed waters, and these have caused constant irritation on both sides.

However, China chose to demonize the Philippines by fabricating false narratives in the West Philippine Sea.

The international community is not blind. It can see China’s lies and fabrications, and the Philippines had evidence to expose the propaganda and disinformation.

China is just fooling its people because it can no longer mislead the international community.

Its 10-dash-line claim on almost the entire South China Sea does not have legs to stand on. It is excessive and violates international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The behavior of its Coast Guard defies logic and international rules, like the COLREGs or the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

The latest incident near Sabina Shoal was a case in point and China clearly violated COLREGs, the convention set in 1972 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

On the other hand, the Philippines chose to fight armed with a single weapon – the truth.

*The views expressed by the columnist do not necessarily reflect that of the media organization.

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