China blames neighbors for the trouble it created

A political observer noted that China is blaming its neighbors and the United States for the tension spawned by maritime disputes in the South and East China seas when, in fact, it is the one that started the trouble. This shows how treacherous the Chinese are, he said. I agree.

China also claims that the US military’s shift of focus to Asia and continuing joint military exercises with other Asian countries have emboldened the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan to dispute China’s claims to maritime zones that they say belong to them.

Clearly, China doesn’t see itself as the cause of the maritime crises and of the atmosphere of instability in those areas. Japan has warned that it would “expel by force” any Chinese attempt to occupy the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands. Vietnamese and Chinese vessels have had confrontations in the contested Paracel and Spratly islands in the South Sea.

In our case, we have filed for UN arbitration of China’s 2012 grab of the Scarborough Shoal, invoking the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Even then, China continues to plant markers on atolls, shoals and reefs near Palawan and reiterates its “nine-dash line” as basis for its claim. And it is driving away from these strips of lands Filipino fishermen, thus depriving them of their means of livelihood for generations.

Now, who is taking over these areas? Who started the tension? Clearly, it’s China, the bully in the South and East China seas.

The Philippines will not be bullied “saan  man  makarating.”

—KIRBY S. COLLADO,

[email protected]