Revert the Gregorio del Pilar

The Philippine Navy ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar used to be a United States Coast Guard cutter until that country realized the mothball vessel can be put to better use if donated to the Philippines.

As always in its relationship with the Philippines, the United States correctly had our number. It knew that, for such a small price, the Philippines would be ecstatic about acquiring what was to be the biggest ship in its naval inventory.

Ever seen a pig given the scratch? It grows limp and drop, exposing a soft underbelly that, in the case of the Philippines, the United States quickly exploited to carry out the new pivot to Asia policy of Barrack Obama.

But as in 9/11, the United States is not flawless in anticipation. In the case of the Philippines, the US never saw it coming that a simple Coast Guard cutter, even if stylized as a warship, would cause it to swagger.

It was this misplaced swagger that would cause Southeast Asia its currently worsening tensions over long-unresolved territorial disputes. You might say at this point that the present crisis had the Gregorio del Pilar as its flashpoint.

As the Philippines would have it, the Gregorio del Pilar is a Navy warship. Based on that fact, it is not supposed to perform the law enforcement functions reserved for the Coast Guard or the Maritime Police.

But because it was swaggering with unbridled pride over its warship, the Philippines sent the Gregorio del Pilar against Chinese boats poaching in waters disputed not only by the two countries but by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei as well.

It needs to be stressed at this point that accosting Chinese poachers is nothing new. In fact, Chinese poachers have routinely been arrested and detained in the past. The difference is that, in all of these previous incidents, only the Coast Guard and Maritime Police we involved.

In other words, they were always civilian in nature which the Chinese did not see as provocative enough to trigger a military response. When the Philippines, already noisily touting the Gregorio del Pilar as a warship, chose to deploy it, China saw it as an act of war of sorts.

China quickly responded with increasingly frequent and provocative military actions, all of which the Philippines has neither the means nor the resolve to match, except by words of angry protest.

This forced the United States to ramp up its pivot to Asia timetable, something it hoped to introduce in less conspicuous, less provocative phases. The US, not so much as to protect the Philippines as to reorient its distorted schedule, is now parading warships often in the region.

This naturally angered China all the more, forcing it in turn to make increasingly bold but calculated risks that have angered and drawn even more players into the widening tensions. A passport gambit by China, involving map depictions of all its territorial claims, angered India.

The latest Chinese jaw-thruster was the announcement that starting 2013, Chinese forces are authorized to accost, board and even detain and cripple all foreign vessels that enter any territory that it claims.

Now I don’t know how the other parties to the dispute will react to this latest gambit by China. But as far as the Philippines is concerned, I have only one proposal: Revert the Gregorio del Pilar to its original function as a Coast Guard cutter.

As a Coast Guard cutter, it can engage China in a game of cat-and-mouse, notwithstanding the danger and where it will lead, if we are that willing. But as a stylized Navy warship that is no match against Chinese vessels, it can do absolutely nothing unless we want to start a war.