China is the Good Samaritan and the Good Cop, contrary to propaganda

THE “Ugly American” is a 1958 book that became a bestseller describing “the United States’ losing struggle against Communism because of the ineptitude and the bungling of the U.S. diplomatic corps stemming from innate arrogance.”

One of the book’s characters, Colonel Hillandale “appears to have been modeled on the real-life U.S. Air Force Major General Edward Lansdale” who was the acknowledged CIA “handler” of President Ramon Magsaysay. Conspiracy theories implicate Lansdale in the 1957 plane crash that killed the president.

Today, a new “ugly American” finally reared its head after years of hiding behind Philippine Coastguard RADM Jay Tarriela – ex-US Air Force Col. Raymond Powell.

This leads me to note that the ugly Americans are matched in ugliness only by their ugly Filipino proxies and Fifth columnists.

Powell works for the US Office of Naval Research under the cover of “maritime security expert” for a so-called “non-profit maritime transparency initiative launched with the support of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation” – for the United States national security, of course, and certainly not for the Philippines’ national security.

The innovation Powell introduced to the Philippines in January of 2023 in a seminar with Stratbase-ADRI, the Philippine extension of the American Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is his strategy of “assertive transparency,” intended to “exact reputational cost on China” by provoking reactions from the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and megaphoning these to the world.

But little damage has been done: China has surpassed the US in Global Trust rating (Gallup 2026) and preference of Southeast Asian leaders (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute 2026).

Powell wrote an op-ed piece in The Manila Times, “Beijing’s good-cop, bad-cop playbook in Manila” last April 9 where he claimed that “Chinese diplomats are playing a ‘good cop/bad cop’ game to divide the Philippines.”

He also defended the AFP and PCG forays into anti-China foreign policy issues in violation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) primacy on matters involving foreign policy.

It should be noted that RA. 7157 tasked the DFA as the “sole legitimate voice in foreign policy” as correctly pointed out by the Chinese Embassy in its reply to Powell’s article.

Contrary to Powell’s narrative of lies, China is the ‘Good Samaritan’ to the Philippines and the whole world for that matter, for more than a millennium now.

Historical records show that there has been a stream of Philippine Datus and Rajahs visiting China since 1011AD on diplomatic and trade missions.

Mariano Ponce got the support of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, founder of China’s first Republican government, to supply arms to the Katipuneros during our War of Independence against Spain while the ‘Wah Chi Squadron’ fought side by side with Filipino guerillas against Japanese invaders during World War 2.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, China send over 500,000 vaccine donations despite its own citizens yet to be fully vaccinated.

In our present predicament because of the war in the Middle East, China bend its export restriction rules on oil products by still sending us oil and LPG to help us cope with the energy crisis brought about by US Imperialism’s ongoing military aggression against Iran.

China is also The Good Samaritan to the world: While the US is “skinning” poorer nations thru its Tariff Wars, China is buying more from them. This coming May, all African exports to China will be Zero Tariff, a gesture sure to boost Africa’s economic growth.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has invested over US$1.4 trillion since 2013, building roads, railroads, bridges, railways, ports, power plants, telecommunication all over the developing world.

China, The Good Cop, donated military materiel to help us defeat Islamist terrorists during the ‘2017 Marawi Siege.’

On the other hand, the US reneged on its commitment to deliver paid-for firearms the AFP badly needs at the time for alleged human rights violations of the Duterte government.