Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte loves to switch between big powers. Sometimes, he acts as a US ally and at times, Duterte warms up completely to Manila’s South China Sea rival- Beijing. Throughout his Presidential tenure, Duterte kept flip-flopping between China and the US. Duterte is ineligible for re-election because the incumbent President is term-limited by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Yet, his flip flops can definitely turn costly for his party.
Duterte administration does make anti-China statements, but it is usually limited to mere lip service. Such remarks are usually supposed to serve as optics whenever Chinese vessels intrude into Filipino waters. But in reality, Duterte does intend to keep his China ‘pivot’ alive. However, Duterte’s behaviour is going to pose problems for his party- PDP Laban during the 2022 Presidential polls.
Of late, Chinese maritime militias have been flexing their muscles in the Filipino waters near the Whitsun Reef. Some Duterte administration officials have chastised China for its illegal actions and tough remarks have been exchanged between Beijing and Manila. Yet, Duterte shows signs of warming up to China at any given time and this is now turning into an embarrassing situation for Duterte’s PDP- Laban.
Duterte remains reluctant in confronting China over the South China Sea conflict. In fact, he shows signs of giving up rather easily. He said, “China is a good friend. We owe them a debt of gratitude—a lot, including our vaccines.” Continuing his defeatist remarks, Duterte added, “So China, let it be known, is a good friend, and we don’t want trouble with them, especially a war.”
Sotto’s shocking remarks were made in reference to a resolution signed by 11 Filipino Senators accusing Beijing of “creeping hegemony” in the South China Sea.
The resolution read, “While China’s increasing dominance as regional and world power cannot be denied, its open and serious contempt of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as its expansion of influence in the area at the expense of legitimate interests and legally recognised maritime entitlements of smaller nations like the Philippines, must be firmly resisted and denounced and the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration Award vigorously asserted.”
However, Sotto said, “Some of us will support the resolution but with amendments. For example, the resolution is supporting the positions of the DFA and the DND. Those words are acceptable, but we will still study the use of the word “condemning” because you cannot use that word on a friend.”
The Senate President added, “China is our trading partner. If possible, we should not use those strong words because we can say that we support the positions of DFA and DND instead. We should be careful in using words.”
However, the apologetic and defeatist remarks from Duterte and Sotto are snowballing into a major political issue in the Philippines. The opposition parties have slammed the Duterte administration for its friendly overtures towards China.
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima said, “While everyone in the world, including China’s own generals, are warning (President) Xi Jinping that he is overstretching in confronting the US and the Philippines in the South China Sea, Taiwan in the Straits, and Japan in the East China Sea, all at the same time and without any ally or friend whatsoever (except Duterte), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) still thinks it is worth it to continue to support Duterte’s policy of grovelling before China.”
China is blatantly violating Manila’s maritime sovereignty, and in such cases, apologetic comments underscoring ‘gratitude towards China’ or trading relations between the Philippines and China seem rather misplaced. Duterte’s flip flops have gone a bit too far, with China literally looking to chip away with Filipino sovereignty. Duterte may be ineligible to contest the next Presidential polls, but his remarks are definitely going to hurt PDP Laban.