THE Philippines would be capping its ASEAN chairmanship with the hosting of the 49th ASEAN Summit in Manila in November under the theme, ‘Navigating Our Future Together.’
Unfortunately, due to our maximalist position with respect to the issues surrounding the South China Sea, we managed to undermine the “togetherness” of ASEAN members in charting their future, with Malaysia and Vietnam and the region’s biggest trading partner, China, the most vocal in registering last month their strong opposition to our claim for an ‘extended continental shelf’ (ECF) covering 350 nautical miles outward from West Palawan that we filed in June 2024 before the United Nations.
Also in July, we agreed to settle with Japan our purported “overlapping” maritime boundary that also covers those being claimed by China as part of its national territory.
Whether the “bright” boys and girls in the administration first thought out how these actions would negatively impact on our ASEAN chairmanship, especially on President BBM—and the way we are viewed with suspicion and derision for lack of a consistent foreign policy by other countries— are all beside the point.
What is clear is that everything arises from our maximalist position that we “own” those areas covered by our claim—and to hell with the claims of our neighbors.
Unfortunately for us, this has become the crux of the administration’s foreign policy that entertains no other alternative. This contributed to our being a laggard member of ASEAN because most of them are not interested in helping a neighbor determined to usurp their own territories.
This maximalist position, on the other hand, is instilled into the minds of our leaders by American Imperialism as part of its unwritten policy of using the Philippines as its pawn in its strategy of perpetual tension in the region and as the frontline in its war planning against China.
With no other option available, we are now trapped with it and backing down to look for other alternatives would be seen as “losing face” or being accused of “appeasement” by some sections of the media and civil organizations beholden to, and under the pay of, US Imperialism.
On a broader front, this is the same predicament of US President Donald Trump and only proves that even in digging a hole for ourselves we are just aping the stupidity of the Americans.
As it stands, Trump’s maximalist demands in his ongoing aggression against Iran (“unconditional surrender”) and Russia (“strategic defeat”) have kept diplomacy closed, even as US Imperialism continues to lose badly on both fronts.
But our difference with the ‘Yanquis’ is this:
The US cannot back down from its maximalist demand out of sheer arrogance as a ‘Superpower,’ and we cannot back down because we stupidly believed every assurance of American Imperialism without even considering their adverse effect on our own national interests. “Hindi na tayo marunong mag-isip” is how we should describe ourselves.
And yes, the United States is a great sovereign state now trapped in its own hubris while we are a neo-colonial outpost trapped in the delusion that being persistent in our maximalist demand is proof that we are also sovereign and independent.