PHNO-OPINION: TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: CHINA TEST A GROSS FAILURE FOR NOYNOY

TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: CHINA TEST A GROSS FAILURE FOR
NOYNOY

MANILA, MAY 15, 2012 (DAILY TRIBUNE) Noynoy should
put away his US-made blinders and look objectively on the root of the longest
and the most serious standoff ever with China over claims on the Scarborough
Shoal.
The view from China, based on the many commentaries that seem to have grown
in numbers and intensity the past few days among official newspapers which are
deemed mouthpieces of the government, is that the incident was provoked by the
administration of Noynoy by introducing a military vessel, the BRP Gregorio del
Pilar, the country's first true post-Second World War Philippine Navy ship,
which was a retired US Coast Guard cutter, in the area.
Last April, BRP Gregorio del Pilar intercepted Chinese fishing boats and
alleged that these were intruding into Philippine territory despite the fact
that since 1997, based on accounts of China newspapers and Filipino fishermen,
there was calm, although uneasy, in the area shared by fishermen not only among
Filipinos and Chinese but also among Vietnamese and Taiwanese fishers.
Things changed last April when the Philippine Navy ship accosted Chinese
boats which got a Chinese government reply in kind through the deployment of
supposed surveillance ships but from which Filipino fishermen who recently tried
to obtain their daily catch from the area said, springs out armed Chinese in
camouflage uniforms which shadow every Filipino ship that wanders into the area.

The prevailing view in China apparently is that the Aquino administration
needed to stir up trouble through the territorial dispute to cover up his
shortcomings as a president, particularly the rising incidence of poverty and
the growing army of the unemployed in the country.
Certainly misconceptions prevail in China on the true motive of the Aquino
administration in stepping up its claim over the tiny shoal in the international
stage, something that Noynoy and his men at the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) have bungled in clarifying with Chinese officials.
China's prevailing view is that the Philippines' deliberately provoked the
current impasse in the Scarborough Shoal incident.
China's military leaders also see that the tough policy the Aquino
administration had adopted is based on four premises.
They believe that Noynoy has a misunderstanding of China's policy appealing
for stability and cooperation in the region and had taken advantage of it to
press its claim on Scarborough Shoal.
Also China appears convinced that Noynoy merely is using the Scarborough
Shoal issue to divert Filipinos' attention away from the worsening economic
conditions of the majority of the population, citing the rise in the poverty
rate to 49 percent of the population and the unemployment rate hitting 10.3
percent.
The basic misunderstanding included the fact that China believes Noynoy is up
for reelection and that he is stirring up anti-China sentiment to bolster his
reelection bid. The assertion, nevertheless, may have substance since Noynoy
desperately needs a major boost for the chances of his candidates for the
elections next year.
Also, China holds that the Aquino administration has a newly-found swagger as
a result of the recent policy pivot of the Obama administration from the Middle
East to the Asia-Pacific and that it believes the Philippines intends to pull in
the United States deeper into the conflict to further promote the
internationalization of the issue.
China noted that since the standoff started, the most notable actions made by
the Aquino administration was to wage a joint military exercise with the United
States and holding a "2+2" talk with the United States "to establish their
common strategic target."
The dispute over Scarborough is also being held by China as an effort of the
Aquino administration to test the waters in staking its claim in other
territories where it has a conflicting claim with China.
What surprises is not the views held by China which are mostly obviously
wrong but the apparent lack, if not absence, of action from Noynoy and officials
of the DFA to correct this.
Also it would be strange for anybody to see Noynoy's officials huddling elbow
to elbow with the Americans over an issue involving another country which the
administration is apparently engaging at arm's length.
It's a failure of policy if not common sense.


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




PHILIPPINE
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