Philippine-Vietnam amity upsets China

Many Filipinos have thyroid disorders. Proof perhaps are the long lines of patients at the clinics of internal medicine specialists. One of the rare forms, though, is the hypoparathyroidism that reportedly afflicts ex-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. While treatment seems simple — massive doses of calcium and phosphorus — the ailment is usually life-long. The patient suffers from such symptoms as cataracts, dry hair, scaly skin, brittle bones, back pains, and abdominal spasms, among others.

Still Filipinos are suspicious of the treatment abroad announced by Arroyo’s spouse Mike. This is because Arroyo has been charged with plunder and election sabotage, both non-bailable, and Mike with several counts of graft. Supposedly they will fly to Singapore, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US to evade prosecution.

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No doubt China watched keenly Vietnam president Truong Tan Sang’s state visit to the Philippines this week. The two states are China’s briskest trade buddies in Southeast Asia. They are also its shrillest rivals for oil-rich zones in the South China Sea. This was highlighted anew when the Philippine and Vietnamese navies forged Wednesday an info exchange, and their coast guards a communication hotline.

China-Vietnam bilateral commerce grew 43 percent in 2010. In a Beijing trip in September President Noynoy Aquino projected to double Manila’s two-way trade to $60 billion by term’s end in 2016. Economics elates China; territorial feuds agitate it. A dozen times since March it has harassed Vietnamese and Philippine patrol, research and fishing craft in the sea it claims to own solely. Hanoi and Manila countered by reiterating their respective terms for the waters, the East (Vietnam) Sea and the West Philippine Sea. They also linked arms with ASEAN allies, including counterclaimants Malaysia and Brunei, to denounce China’s stoking of tensions. China looked like a neighborhood bully. In contrast, the four ASEAN counterclaimants appeared reasonable in setting aside disputes for the sake of regional amity.

Sang and Aquino’s call for full implementation of the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the disputed sea all the more puts China on the spot. China had signed the accord with ASEAN in 2002. In the face of China’s frequent rows with the Philippines and Vietnam, the 10 ASEAN states now want the Declaration enforced via a Code of Conduct. China’s smug response — that it would deal separately with each counterclaimant — reinforces the bully image.

Sang echoed Aquino’s “rules-based approach” in the region. This means adhering to international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. China is a signatory to it, but can’t bring itself to abide by the provisions. Vietnam and Malaysia in 2008 jointly had filed under the UNCLOS the extents and overlaps of their 200-mile exclusive economic zones. The following year China unilaterally declared the entire South Sea as its territory, via a map that delineates boundaries by nine hazy dashes. Singapore, the smallest ASEAN member, howled that China’s claim has no historical root. Indonesia, the largest member and present ASEAN president, demanded China’s basis for the nine dashes. No answer. Vietnam went on exploring for oil in the Paracel Isles just off its coast, and the Philippines in Recto Bank off the Palawan province. Both avoided their claimed Spratly islets. Still Chinese warships fired at a Vietnamese scientific vessel in the Paracels, and nearly rammed a similar Philippine boat in Recto Bank. The Philippines filed a complaint with the UN, and an appeal for UN arbitration of the maritime tiff. The bully was exposed to the world.

Sang signed last month with India a “strategic partnership” jointly to explore the Paracels. It came a day after the China visit of Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong. Instantly Beijing fumed that the pact “would push China to the limit.” Ignoring the term Indochina, it said India has no business helping Vietnam search for oil in the South Sea since the two have no historical ties. Shrieked the Global Times, “China may consider taking actions to show its stance, and prevent more reckless attempts in confronting China.” The English language foreign-policy tabloid of the Chinese Communist Party’s official organ, People’s Daily, panders largely to ultranationalists. China has growing trade — and military competition — with India, with which it has waged border wars. But even the usually staid China Energy News, also under the People’s Daily, bellowed: “[India’s] energy policy is slipping into an extremely dangerous whirlpool.”

With China’s escalation of conflict, Vietnam conducted last June live-fire naval exercises in the Paracels. The Philippines called up its Mutual Defense Treaty with America, to which the latter responded by expressing readiness to abide by it and warning China to cool down. Last week the Global Times again fired a broadside, apparently to pre-empt Sang’s visit to Manila. Warning of war, it roared: “If these countries don’t want to change their ways with China, they will need to mentally prepare for the sounds of cannons. We need to be ready for that, as it may be the only way for the disputes in the seas to be resolved.” The editorial was “grossly irresponsible,” Philippine foreign secretary Albert del Rosario shook his head. And the big bully is beginning to sound like little boy blue tooting his own horn.

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