Widespread support for Marcos’ foreign policy crucial

More than any initiative of his two-year-old administration, President Marcos’ foreign policy, specifically as it involves our relationship with China, is shaping up day by day as the most consequential and eventful course of action impacting various levels of our national life. He has embarked on a courageous but logical and pragmatic shift from the servile stance of his predecessor to a multilateral partnership with other nations to enhance, not only our own, but regional peace and stability.

The focus on China, an erstwhile friend when it suits its agenda, is neither random nor a form of racial profiling, but a hard-nosed reality that the Asian superpower poses the gravest threat to our national security. For this reason, every Filipino, including those in the Left, must wake up and fully support Mr. Marcos’ diplomatic thrust. As a renowned American diplomat said, “No foreign policy—no matter how ingenious—has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.” This is especially crucial because of hostile forces undermining the President’s actions at every turn, not only from beyond our borders but among our countrymen.

Externally, the threat to us is real. Our powerful neighbor, with its awesome military and economic capabilities, is crouching just 500 nautical miles from the shores of Palawan and Batanes. It is the only nation that has intruded into our territory, constructed artificial islands inside our exclusive economic zone, and mounted aggressive actions against our assets and people in the West Philippine Sea. It is therefore a strategic and inevitable option for the administration to forge mutual assistance with the United States, Japan, Australia, France, and even India on maritime affairs.

It must be assumed that a predator, with billions of hungry mouths to feed, will not spare a prey floating alone in the open sea.

To be clear our country will never engage, and is incapable of engaging, in warmongering and aggression. Whatever we do is defensive because we are a peaceful people and our Constitution renounces war as an instrument of national policy and adopts international law as part of the law of the land. But we cannot say the same thing of China, which has openly refused to comply with the 2016 arbitral ruling and continues to display a cavalier attitude to the rules and principles of international law. If this is not enough to alarm us, internal subversion by the China strain of Makapili among our businessmen, government officials, and media personalities will be wrenching.

This is why we should not treat lightly reports about “sleepers,” the influx of Chinese students in Cagayan province which the Bureau of Immigration placed at 1,516 in 2023, and an earlier post that quoted Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba as opposing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and pushing for stronger ties with Beijing. At the very least, there must be a comprehensive and thorough investigation of this situation to uncover the facts. Better still, I suggest a special body under the Office of the President, akin to The Russia House of British Intelligence, not a spy agency but a think tank to monitor all activities of China impinging on the Philippines, lest we will be caught off guard, and wake up one day with our neighbor entering our door without firing a shot.

Ancheta K. Tan, lawyer