My Take | Between Marcos Jnr and the US, it is the family ties that bind
- The political dynasty and Washington go way back and the breach of an undisclosed deal with Beijing explains a lot about the Spratlys stand-off
The current face-off between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea is usually portrayed as Beijing’s sabre-rattling.
Either the Chinese want to intimidate Manila to back off from its tilt back towards the United States under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, or it just wants to show him who the real boss is in the region. At least that’s the conventional story we have been fed.
But you have to ask, does it make sense for three countries to risk a war just to fight over the decaying BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed Spratly Islands? Remember, unlike Taiwan, Manila and Washington have a long-standing defence treaty that would obligate the US military to intervene if push comes to shove between the Filipinos and Chinese.
Both China and the Philippines lay claims over the islands, as do Vietnam, and Malaysia. There are plenty of areas the two countries could fight over, and have been doing so for many years. So why does Marcos, of all places, pick the Sierra Madre now?
Now, if Washington and Manila wanted a guaranteed angry response from the Chinese, what would they do? Well, send provisions to the ship, and in the most high-profile manner possible.