Because they can

In case you haven’t noticed, China started actively enforcing its claim in waters around the Philippines – and we started tangling with them over territory – shortly after the Americans shut down their military bases here.

The first time was in 1994, when Philippine forces spotted huts built on stilts over Panganiban or Mischief Reef off Palawan. Beijing said the huts were fishermen’s shelters. Today the huts are solid structures that look like a garrison, flying the Chinese flag.

They built that garrison because we couldn’t stop them. They built because they could.

And they will continue building, wherever they can, over spits of rock and coral, including those that are submerged during high tide, to enforce their territorial claim over the entire South China Sea.

When we tell them to get out of our territory, their response boils down to: “Make us.”

We couldn’t even stop their eight fishing boats, several of which were full of endangered giant clams, from leaving Scarborough Shoal. The Chinese know weakness when they see it, and contempt is not an unusual reaction to weakness. That reaction is what we are seeing in Panatag Shoal.

The Chinese have been friends and trading partners of Filipinos for ages. It is not an exaggeration to say that almost all living Filipinos (myself included) have a Chinese ancestor.

But neighborliness goes out the window when Beijing wants to claim territory, especially when the neighbor is unable to defend itself. China is uncompromising on Tibet, and never mind what the Tibetans say.

Consider how Beijing, in contrast, deals with those with the capability to fight military force with force, such as Taiwan.

For decades, the Philippines used Scarborough, or Panatag, or Bajo de Masinloc for a registered lighthouse and then for joint gunnery drills with US forces without being challenged by the Chinese. But all those activities occurred when the US Navy had its largest overseas base in Subic Bay.

Chinese officials will be the first to tell you that they do not challenge US naval superiority. They will even tell you that they don’t mind having one country serving as global supercop, with all the expenses, resources and responsibilities that the role entails.

But if the upward economic trajectory of China continues, it is sure to develop the military capability that it can afford. It still may not rival US capability, but it could become the most powerful military in Asia.

It is also noteworthy that when the US bases were still here, the Chinese were preoccupied with serious problems back home. They had to deal with poverty and social upheaval during and shortly after the Cultural Revolution.

But now that it has become the world’s second largest economy, China can afford to focus on other matters, such as actively pursuing its territorial claims on areas that are believed to be rich in minerals and oil – items that are badly needed by a rapidly industrializing country.

In this pursuit, China is practical enough to avoid elephants in its path. But it is also ready to crush puny creatures that get in the way.

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There are Filipinos who feel humiliated that in a standoff with Asia’s rising power, we huff and puff, and then run to Uncle Sam for help.

When we kicked out US troops from Philippine soil, we failed to kick the habit of reliance on the American security umbrella for our own national defense.

At least subconsciously, many Filipinos still believe that Uncle Sam will always be there, any time we come crying for help, if ever we feel we cannot handle a foreign aggressor by ourselves.

I went to Washington a few years after the shutdown of the bases, and US officials told me with candor that their resentment over being kicked out by an ally was so great the Philippines had practically disappeared from Washington’s radar screen. The Philippine desk or section at the State Department was dramatically scaled down, and I don’t think it has been restored to its size when the bases were still here.

We still have a Mutual Defense Treaty with the Americans, but I don’t think it includes assisting us in a sustained effort to keep out intruders from Philippine waters.

Washington has already said it won’t take sides in territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and that all it wants is a peaceful settlement of overlapping claims. Its principal concern is freedom of navigation in international waters, particularly for its vessels. The US wants to ensure the unimpeded flow of commerce and other peaceful activities in the seas.

The US and Chinese economies are tightly intertwined, and Washington isn’t going to jump willy-nilly into the fray in case armed conflict erupts between Philippine and Chinese forces.

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From the official acts of several administrations, it is clear that we didn’t anticipate the challenge now posed to us by China.

We wallowed in complacency, believing that everyone loves us, everyone is our friend, so why waste public funds developing credible defense capability?

Left-leaning policymakers also blocked efforts to increase defense spending, fearing (admittedly with good reason) that stronger military capability would be used in counterinsurgency, specifically against communist rebels.

Several retired military officers continue to lament that proceeds from the sale of military reservations, which should have been invested in the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police following the shutdown of US bases, were not used entirely for their intended purpose. The officers say that sure, some of the proceeds went to the AFP and PNP, but not the amounts expected.

And so here we are, our retrofitted warship menaced by Chinese gunboats, with our officials running to Washington for urgent help.

Whichever way the talks in the US go, the standoff in Panatag Shoal should give us precious lessons in self-defense.

The next time we tell intruders to get out of Philippine territory, we should mean it – and be able to make them do it.

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RED TAPE: A driver who was apprehended for speeding (at 112 kph) on the Skyway last Saturday was given a receipt for his confiscated license, good for three days. The license and ticket were submitted by the Skyway police to the Land Transportation Office in East Avenue, Quezon City only yesterday. There was no one at the LTO to process the papers yesterday because, the driver was told, the office was having a sports fest. The earliest the license can be redeemed, for P1,400, is on Friday. That’s efficiency along the daang matuwid for you.