every nation deserves to take pride in its particular history, but any history does not a superior race make. even the name a people gives its country would not make them any better or worse than other nations.
it is not only the philippines but all the other claimants that the chinese do not seem to take seriously. vietnam, for one, claims all of the spratlys like the chinese, unlike the philippines that claims only a part of it, specifically those islands and islets that are within the country's 200-nautical mile eez.
the chinese at the moment cannot be tagged as having dominated the pacific. a closer look at their moves though would mean they may want to; after dominating trading and manufacturing, now they want territory, with sights set on the busy sea lanes where the spratlys is. what they may wish for most is to keep u.s. influence out.
1. I agree with you. Unfortunately for us Filipinos, China does see itself as a Superior Society with an undaunted and practically unchanged continuous history of almost 5 millenia. In their view, even before the European civilizations started to build houses and when they were still living in caves, China already established itself as a civilization with a written language and the idea of a 'China'.
This is the reason why they are so adamant in their 'historical' premise and their right to 'claim' territories based on historical premises.
In Beijing's view, the Philippines is a weak nation that does not have the resources to challenge China. So, in regards to Confucian ideology, naturally, the weaker state is supposed to give in to the stronger and aggressive state. The Philippines and Vietnam challenging Chinese hegemony and domination in the South China Sea is seen as an affront to China and a slap in the face.
That is why they (their diplomatic representatives) are hostile to any Filipino challenge of their claims. This explains why the embassy representative raised his voice at a Filipino official.
2. There are many claimants to the Spratlys: Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei , Indonesia and China.
China does not recognize Taiwan, and prioritizes the reunification of Taiwan as an absolute must. China views Taiwan as a rogue province and has done everything in its power to enforce the '1 China Policy' throughout the world. Until recently, the Philippines recognized Taiwan as an independent state, however, the Philippines changed its policy and ultimately adhered to the '1 China Policy' under stress from Beijing. A payoff for this was increased lucrative trade between China and the Philippines.
China does not recognize the claims of Taiwan, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. It only recognizes its own claim.
In the lat 1980s, China and Vietnam had a naval clash that resulted in the deaths of 70 Vietnamese marines and the sinking of a Vietnamese naval battlegroup by the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) after the Vietnamese tried to seize islands that it claimed. China was quick in its response and obliterated the Vietnamese battlegroup and killed every single Vietnamese marine.
The Philippines was not engaged because at the time , there was a major American presence in the Philippines: Clark Air Force Base, Subic Bay Naval Base.
Any attack on Philippine military vehicles would have resulted in a quick and disastrous American air and naval response. But that was back in the 1980s.
3. China wants the United States out of its sphere of interest; naturally because China sees the United States as an interfering interloper in things that does not involve America, namely the Spratlys. The Spratlys is lucrative because of the following:
a. the untold billions of units of natural gas reserves
b. the South China Sea is an important sea lane in which 1/3 of the worlds ships passes through
c. China no longer relies on the American Navy to patrol the South China Sea and now sees itself as capable to patrol its own sea lanes and to muster its own Blue-Water Navy to project Chinese interests abroad and in its own backyard.
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