Loud and nasty on social media, quiet on the waters
In the past six months, China’s behavior in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) has been different. No ramming or tailing of our Coast Guard ships, no dangerous maneuvers in the sky, no blocking of our fishermen’s boats in Scarborough Shoal.
The only incursion they did was to surreptitiously install a floating platform in Scarborough Shoal, with six Chinese personnel aboard, which was apparently used for marine scientific research. They left after three weeks amid the Philippine government’s protest.
Contrast this silence in the sea to the strong actions on the diplomatic—or undiplomatic—front, including in the information space. Last month, China sanctioned Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro for making “irresponsible remarks on China,” barring him and his family from traveling to the mainland, Macau and Hong Kong, and “disallowing organizations and individuals in China to engage in any transaction, cooperation or other activities with him and his spouse and child.”
Teodoro is the first Cabinet member and the highest government official to be sanctioned by Beijing. Earlier this year, it was the Kalayaan town councilors—16 of them—who received the sanction after they declared two of Beijing’s envoys to the Philippines persona non grata.
