Duterte’s impeachment, China’s trepidation

In my previous article, I surmised that China is obsessed to make our country its province. I made that observation after tying together the movements of its military forces and the pronouncements by some Chinese officials. Yet, I also noticed that it was taking its time to pursue the realization of its obsession. China did not rush. They gradually (make that word stealthily) ate up portions of our territory with apparent tolerance of Philippine officialdom. We must not forget what former President Rodrigo Duterte said on February 19, 2018 at the Manila Hotel. The occasion was the 20th founding anniversary celebration and 10th biennial national convention of the Chinese Filipino Business Club Inc. in the presence of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua. Duterte was quoted saying “if you want, just make us a province, like Fujian — Philippine province of China.”

It should be safe to conclude that the Chinese were comfortable with a Rodrigo Duterte leadership and they would prefer a future President Sara Duterte. That comfy feeling must now be rocked with the impeachment proceedings against the vice president. In the event the Senate Impeachment Court finds Inday Sara unfit to hold public office, the Chinese obsession for the Philippines to be its province will suffer a huge setback.

Because China now finds this futuristic Duterte presidency situation uncertain, they have begun to rev up their obsession. Before I take up the more recent aggressive moves of the Chinese, let me recall what illegal acts they committed. I believe that after we discuss these Chinese moves, their obsession to make our country its province can become manifest.

Communist China first sneaked into the West Philippine Sea in 1994-1995. I learned from the internet that these communists seized and occupied Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef) and built physical structures/outposts which they claimed to be just stilted huts as “fishermen’s shelters.” Its occupancy of the Mischief Reef under that fishermen’s shelter ploy was a worst guile not unlike the piratical acts of their predecessor Lim A Hong.

In the years 2000-2010, China, true to their deceptive ways, began large-scale land reclamation (dredging sand and coral) to create thousands of square meters/hectares of land mass, introduced concrete forts, wind turbines and established concrete military facilities.

For the record, China has fully militarized seven major artificial feature outposts in the Spratly Islands within the West Philippine Sea, converting them into forward-operating military bases. And if my sources are correct, these are within our territorial sovereignty as part of our Exclusive Economic Zone.

To show their island grabbing design, the Chinese earlier drew this so-called nine-dash line in 1947. By the way, they updated that to 10 dash line. They use this U-shaped marker on Chinese maps to claim ownership over nearly the entire West Philippine Sea. The 9 dash line is a vague map. The Chinese consciously and intentionally made it vague. It is without exact legal meaning nor does it tell the coordinates of the line, leaving its exact borders ambiguous and that was one reason the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled it baseless and without legal footing.

Finally, in addition to the Chinese maritime assets swarming the West Philippine Sea, China incorporated a kind of historical argument in their obsession. In late June and July 2026, researchers and academics from Chinese institutions (including Jinan University, Nanjing University, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) asserted during a symposium in Guangzhou that Batanes belongs to China through Taiwan. What, Batanes belongs to China? It is most probable that these supposed academicians are stooges of communist China. Look at their reasoning: Batanes is a "natural geographical extension of Taiwan." Oh My God, what cunning!