A PHILIPPINE ALLIANCE WITH CHINA IS UNTHINKABLE FOR MAJORITY OF FILIPINOS
By Roilo Golez
I hope the President is just joking when he mentions a possible alliance with China and he talks of terminating the alliance with the US.
In the first place, an alliance with China is very unpopular among Filipinos. Only people like Herman Tiu Laurel favor an alliance with China. I ran a simple survey on Facebook and out of 752, 16 are for (China-Russia), 3 are neutral and 733 are for (US, EU and Japan) or 97.47% for US-EU-Japan, in spite of the bashing that US and EU have been receiving lately.
I dare say it will be at least 80% in favor of the US if we do a nationwide survey. The government should run a survey. or look at the latest SWS survey to see how Filipinos favor the US over China.
Why? The answer is simple. It is cultural, social and ideological.
There are 3.4 Filipino Americans in the US. Almost every Filipino has a close relative in the US. At least a second cousin. Many have siblings there.
And most of the Filipinos in the US have a good life there. America has been good to them. And that is why many Filipinos dream the American Dream. That’s the reason many are applying to immigrate to America.
You cannot say the same for China. Brown Filipinos have few relatives there. We have OFWs there who live there as a necessity but I doubt whether they want to become permanent residents there.
An alliance means a military alliance. A military alliance is for the contingency of a shooting war. That’s why allies conduct joint military exercises.
If we become allies of China. that means the Philippines would be with China in case of a shooting war.
To side with China against the US is unthinkable for Filipinos.
First, all the ships of the US Navy have several Filipino Americans on board. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them in the US Navy Carrier Battle Groups, the front liners of the US Navy in peace and war.
How can we side with China and wish our Filipino brothers and sisters harm in a conflict with China, or worse to receive fire from the Philippine military allied with China? That is unthinkable.
US Marines and Filipino Marines consider themselves brothers in arms, after years of training together and learning from each other during BALIKATAN Exercise. Ask the Filipino Marines how they feel about US marines. It is unthinkable to ask them to harm each other.
For example the Commander of the Joint Region Marianas is a Tagalog speaking Fil-Am, a lady Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar, a graduate of the US Naval Academy. She is the commander of Joint Region Marianas and also serves as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Marianas and as U.S. Defense Representative to Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, and Federated States of Micronesia.
A lot of US naval forces will come from her bases should there be a war in the Western Pacific. And her area can be a target of Chinese missiles. As an ally of China, we Filipinos would cheer as missiles rain on Guam, killing a lot of Filipinos there, perhaps including Admiral Bolivar. That is unthinkable.
The Commanding Officer of US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is a Filipino American, Captain Ronald Ravelo. His brother in law, married to his Fil-Am sister, is the commanding officer of the famous aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. Both carriers could get deployed in the Pacific in case of war here. If we are the ally of China, we would all be praying for a Chinese victory and the destruction of US aircraft carriers commanded by a Fil-am with hundreds of Filipino crew members. That would be unthinkable for us Filipinos.
But if the Philippines remains allies of America, in case of a conflict in the Pacific, Filipino sailors, marines and soldiers would fight side by side with thousands of Filipino Americans assigned in US military units in the Pacific. That is not only thinkable. It goes with our bloodline, culture and democratic ideology.
So I hope the President was not serious about a Philippine military alliance with China.
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Tyvm for the post Sir Goilez. I have been an admirer of you since your days as Post Master General. I think Duterte will not really terminate but he is a master of marketing and social engineering. Just the way he entered the race with vacillating thoughts created a lot of PR for the Philippines. Now he is creating a lot of PR. Frankly, now is the proudest I have ever been as a Filipino living here in USA for the last 29 years. Like Trump, he is a master at getting free earned viral media that would have cost a lot to buy. Unlike Trump, he is a real administrator, operstor. He is charismatic and can connect with the people. He may not be the most academically gifted, but his social and emotional intelligence is off the charts. I cannot remember the name of the Chinese emperor but he was considered one of the best ever in China's long histoey. Loke Duterte, he was not the most intelligent, he drank a lot and connected a lot with the people.
ReplyDeleteHe calculates that US cannot afford to terminate ties with Philippines. I agree with this calculation. And he is using the press to boost morale and increase the momentum for the officers and the military so we can accomplish the first goal: Rid of crime and corruption.
Mike Onghai, Your long stay in USA doesn't give the right to speak for us...speak for your self ONLY...did you really spelled "PAUSE" as post...? As,for Trump, Hell , Yes He is a Despicable sex-predator, just like Duterte,..! Takes women as OBJECTS..!
DeleteYours is a great EMOTIONAL reply. Please offer a sober, or better still, a logical reply.
DeleteI think what the Filipino people needs right now is a genuine and sincere apology from the Americans.
ReplyDeleteMr. Oragon please elaborate your statement. What should the Americans apologize for? We owe them our freedom, they are always by our side when we are under calamities and other things. Therefore what should they apologize for?
DeletePhilippine need the US Navy on its side for many, many years to help keep China Navy at bay. this is a fact that one can not deny at this time. US need to provide more military aid to the Philippine in order to help modernize its armed forces, which may deter China from taking more Island near the Philippine.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that bribing is the most powerful weapon, used by the commies on poor countries and their dumb corrupt leaders. However these corrupt dumb leaders never die a peaceful death. When they have worms creeping from their brains, mouth and heart. Also affecting their corrupt families and relatives and friends.
DeleteThe dumb corrupt president is being bribed by the corrupt communists, on the expanse of his dumb citizens. Who are now being brainwashed to be alike dumb communist minds. Truly sad !
ReplyDeleteForeign policy is too grave a matter to leave just for politicians like DU30 and Yasay. The government should strategize according to the wishes of the governed not just because of the "tampo" of DU30.
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ReplyDeletePerhaps this is true depend how you did your survey, and cannot just depending upon a few top office holders, they are definitely for the US, because they benefited from US, but the majority of Filipinos are not in these positions. It may be true presently due to President Duterte's hardline cleansing of drug trafficking, but the end result will be better for the growth of Philippines,only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteTaking the mindset of Pinoys, such scenario is almost like treason.
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ReplyDeleteIf only the US treated us equitably from the start, then maybe this issue would not have come up in the first place:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/site_packages/econ_hitmen/3150philipp_coup.html
ayaw ni du30 madamay ang pinas sa gyera pagitan ng us at china.
ReplyDeleteUS has 92% favorable rating in the Philippines per Pew Research. Generally high in Asian countries except China & Pakistan. Low in the Middle East like Lebanon, Turkey, Palestine, Jordan. High in South America except Argentina. And very high in African countries. http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/
ReplyDeletePer SWS, China has low trust rating in the Philippines. In 2015 SWS survey, 62% of Filipinos have little trust in China. http://www.balita.com/sws-62-pinoys-have-little-trust-in-china-amid-territorial-row-with-phl-net-trust-rating-45/
ReplyDeleteYes, the President is not serious about a military alliance with China, but he is dead serious about cutting ties with the US if that will make Filipinos stand on their own feet and shed the shackles of dependence on "big white brother" who gave us hand-me-downs.
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