BY ASHZEL HACHERO and VICTOR REYES
SECURITY experts yesterday said political will of policy and decision-makers is needed to counter China’s intensifying aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea.
National security, maritime law, and geopolitical experts spoke during a forum on gray zone operations in the maritime Indo-Pacific, organized by Stratbase ADR Institute in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines.
Renato de Castro, International Studies professor and Institute trustee, said Beijing wants to gain a position of advantage over other countries in the region and views gray zone activities as a natural extension of how countries exercise power.
To address the problem, De Castro said, political will must be enhanced, coupled with strengthening multilateral alliances with allies and like-minded countries as well as recognition of China’s tactics.
“To limit China’s ability to conduct gray zone operations against the Philippines requires Manila, Washington, Canberra, and Tokyo to convey strong signals of commitment for mutual assistance through security agreements, troop deployments, arms transfers, and multinational exercises, thereby reducing the Philippines’ sense of insecurity,” De Castro said.
“We should develop the political will to stand against China’s gray zone tactics. The challenge for the Philippines is to take the offensive and that requires `shaping’ operations against China,” he also said.
He recommended the development of a surveillance system to continuously monitor Chinese gray operations.
“This requires the development of a regionwide surveillance network that can detect, identify, and monitor Chinese vessels that are positioned for gray zone operations in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman and adviser for maritime security, told the forum of the effectiveness of government’s move to publicize all cases of Chinese harassment activities and incursions in the WPS.
Tarriela clarified he was invited to the forum in his capacity as a “maritime security scholar,” thus his statements do not represent the official stand of the government, specifically the PCG.
About a week ago, Tarriela reported that PCG, on the approval of the National Task Force for the WPS, is publicizing China’s incursions and harassment so the public will be made aware of Chinese aggression in the area.
He said the strategy “exposed the bullying behavior and aggressive actions of China” and allowed “like-minded nations states to express condemnation and reproach which puts Beijing into spotlight.”
“Chinese actions in the shadows are now checked which also forced them to come out in the open to explain or to publicly lie. This behavior can be seen when the pointing of the military-grade laser incident was publicized,” said Tarriela.
He was referring to the February 6 incident near the Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal where a China Coast Guard pointed military-grade laser light at a PCG vessel while escorting a Navy resupply mission at the shoal, causing temporary blindness of the crew members.
After the incident, Chinese officials said the China Coast Guard denied it used military-grade laser light, adding the device was used merely to measure distance and speed of their vessel. This was debunked by the PCG, noting that the Chinese vessel have a radar to use for that.
After the laser incident, the PCG reported swarming of Chinese vessels at the Ayungin Shoal and at the unoccupied Sabina Shoal.
Last Saturday, the PCG also reported presence of more than 40 Chinese vessels at Pag-asa Island, which serves as the seat of government of Kalayaan, Palawan.
“More importantly, the disclosure of incidents in the West Philippine sea redirects the public discourse among the Filipinos. This is very important especially this time that fake news, disinformation dominate the narrative on China’s stance in the West Philippine Sea,” said Tarriela.
With the the release of pictures and videos of these Chinese activities, Tarriela said, “we can once again reshape the public opinion to weigh things objectively based on facts and not just propaganda.”
TRANSPARENCY
Tarriela said PCG’s transparency also put Chinese actions in the West Philippine Sea in the history books.
“As an academic, i know that the non-publication of the incidents that transpired in the South China Sea is not just a disservice to the fellow scholars but a sin against the next generation Filipinos,” said Tarriela.
He said he wants the future Filipino generation to “learn and remember the aggressive actions and bullying behavior of China so much so that I also hope that the international community will not turn a blind eye on Beijing’s gray zone activities that undermines the rules- based order.”
Tarriela reiterated the need for the national government to support the modernization program of the PCG.
He said acquiring additional offshore patrol vessels and aircraft, establishment of maritime domain awareness infrastructures, and construction of PCG response bases “will definitely increase our capability in monitoring gray zone (non-military coercion) activities not just in the West Philippine Sea but even in various parts of the country.”
De Castro said what the Philippines lacks is the political will to confront the problem head on, adding this was not the case with Indonesia and Malaysia when China also made moves on areas it claimed as within their 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Indonesia has strongly rejected China’s claim over the Natuna island, detaining Chinese fishermen and expanding its military presence in the area.
Malaysia has also taken a robust approach developing a gas field in the South China Sea despite harassment from Chinese coast guard vessels.
“The best way is to deny China’s goal to win by actually without fighting, by showing the will to resist and taking into account alliances and multilateralism,” De Castro said.
He said the government must work on further enhancing support from other countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan and even the European Union to boost its stand against China’s gray zone tactics.
“Alliances generate assurances and protection against vulnerability especially for a country that seems to lack the political will to confront China,” he added.
De Castro was referring to the laser incident.
But De Castro said he is also heartened by the fact that the government is slowly realizing that China’s gray zone activities are taking place and putting in place measures to counter it, a fact that he said did not happen for the most part of the term of President Duterte.
“What happened during his term was an unrequited love because China never returned the love that Duterte gave,” he said.
INFO WARFARE
Retired US Air Force Col.Raymond Powell of the Gordian Knot Center for Security Innovation at the Stanford University in California said the Philippine government should build the support of its population in countering China’s aggressive activities in the WPS.
“This will be a long-term play. China will not withdraw from Sabina Shoal just because CNN made a report about it,” he said.
Powell also pointed to the need for the government to enhance its “information warfare” to counter China.
“An engaged and informed public is really the key in helping to push away gray zone tactics. Ultimately, your government needed the support of the people in order to make hard decision,” he said.
He said the military establishment should also engaged with the media by “embedding reporters” in its patrols in the area to report on China’s activities.
Powell added China likes the gray zone because it’s gray and opaque and its deniable.
“They can do things in the gray zone and, by and large, the public doesn’t know about it,” he said.
He said Stanford is doing a program to shed light on China’s activities in the WPS and the South China Sea by tracking their activities and publicizing them.
DRAWING ATTENTION
Dr. Charmaine Willoughby, Associate Professor at Manila’s De La Salle University, said speaking out and filing diplomatic protest against China’s activities in the WPS should be sustained as the country’s national interest cannot afford not to.
“But the Philippines ought to do more in this regard. I argue that there is a need to breakdown and demystify the concept of gray zone so that we can have a more responsive national security strategy on this,” she said.
“We should understand that China uses coercion whether militarize or not to establish its reputation for resolve in defending its territory. They are using economic coercion and information campaign and proxy forces such as maritime militia which are activities below the threshold of war. It is a classic salami strategy or death by a thousand cuts,” she added.
To address the issue, Willoughby said the Philippines must be transparent in drawing attention to coercive acts as they happen as it increases the costs to China in initiating intimidating behavior.
She said there is also a need to improve the military’s deterrence capabilities and to diversify international alliances.
“Improving deterrence capabilities is our stick in this.We also need a whole of government approach, one that poses clear messaging of our national interest,” she added.
