Two-faced China: Aiding while bullying

There’s a story of the scorpion once trapped on a rock in the middle of the rampaging river. “Help, help, somebody, anybody,” it shrieked, “Get me out of here or I’ll drown.” Up a tree the friendly monkey, on hearing the scorpion, shouted, “Fear not, Friend Scorpion, I’ll save you.” Whereupon the friendly monkey grabbed a vine, swung onto the rock in the middle of the current, and upon landing said, “Quick, Friend Scorpion, hop onto my shoulder, the flood might soon engulf us.” As the scorpion clambered to the shoulder, the friendly monkey struggled up the vine, several times nearly losing his grip as the waters surged. Finally back up the tree, the friendly monkey panted in exhaustion. Suddenly he felt a sting on his nape and the heat of venom swiftly spreading through his head, body, and limbs. As he slumped forward and his eyes closed, the friendly monkey strained to ask, “But why, Friend Scorpion, why did you poison me, when I have just saved your life risking mine too?” The scorpion sniggered, “Sorry, it’s my nature.”

It’s just China’s nature to be duplicitous. In dispatching a hospital ship to typhoon-razed Leyte, it is showing the Philippines and the world humanitarianism. Simultaneously it is taunting everybody with a boast of naval might in the South China (West Philippine) Sea.

Escorted by two destroyers and two missile cruisers, China’s sole aircraft carrier Liaoning pushed off to the disputed waters for “military exercises” that can only be viewed globally as muscle flexing. It is in bad taste and timing, coming in the midst of international efforts to resolve the regional rows peacefully. China habitually complicates such efforts, this time with a unilateral declaration of overlapping airspace with Korea and Japan.

The move came just a day after China’s naval vessel Peace Ark berthed in Leyte on a mercy mission. Laden with medical personnel, equipment and supplies, it is providing a variety of tests and treatments for thousands of victims of Typhoon-Haiyan, history’s strongest ever. The Peace Ark is reaping wide publicity, for on its deck Chinese and Filipino soldiers for the first time are engaged in friendly, common effort.

This is the first arrival of the Peace Ark in the Philippines. In recent years it called on Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei ports. The last three Southeast Asian nations, like the Philippines, claim all or part of the Spratly Islands, as do China and Taiwan. China and Vietnam also contest the Paracel Islands off the latter’s coast.

This is the first time too for Liaoning in the southern sea. Previously sailing in China’s calmer northeast coasts, its presence in disputed waters further can strain neighborly relations.

Beijing claims all of the South China Sea as internal waters, by virtue of an unfounded “ancient nine-dash line map.” The sea is rich in minerals; all the disputants, plus Indonesia, have off shore oil and gas fields. Marine food abound; China has been grabbing Vietnamese and Philippine fishing grounds.

China’s map used to have seven dashes when first unfolded decades ago. Last year it again revised the cartography to ten, to include Taiwan.

Whatever, it goes against the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which grants coastal states 200 miles in exclusive economic zones. All the sea disputants are signatories to the pact.

The Liaoning voyage is to test its crew and equipment, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. “It is hard to find an ideal area for the mission, except for the South China Sea,” the China Daily newspaper quoted Maj. Gen. Yin Zhuo, a frequent spokesman on military affairs, as justifying.

Any show of military force in the disputed waters can be viewed as destabilizing. Manila is wary of the Chinese armada violating the pact for status-quo conduct among China and its Southeast Asian neighbors. More so since China has been rejecting pleas by the neighbors, with the United States and Australia, to sign a non-aggression treaty. “The deployment raises tensions and violates the declaration on the conduct of parties,” foreign office spokesman Raul Hernandez said in Manila.

General Yin is the same Chinese military spokesman who recently declared that Beijing has not discarded the use of force in the row with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islets. He also said that Chinese submarines are ready for dispatch to attack American cities.

He said the Liaoning must cruise around the southern sea for two months to complete its capability tests, including launching fighters during harsh weather.

In sailing to the southern sea, Liaoning passed through the Miyako Strait, near Japan-held Okinawa archipelago, also claimed by China.

Beijing’s declaration last weekend, for Korea and Japan to leave previously held airspace, has inflamed both northern neighbors. China professes to be doing all this for peace.

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The Producers, one of Broadway’s biggest musical hits, is now in Manila courtesy of Repertory Philippines.

With music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, the black humor plays on Hitler, greedy stage organizers, lousy directors, boring accountants, and helpless old ladies, all at once.

 Starring: Topper Fabregas, Carlo Orosa, Robbie Zialcita, G Toengi, Joel Trinidad, and Noel Rayos. Noel Trinidad and Audie Gemora alternate in a role that makes one wonder when they came out of the closet (joke only, guys). Directed by Jaime del Mundo.

At Onstage, Greenbelt-1, Makati, till the weekend of Dec. 15. Tickets at the box office or at all TicketWorld outlets, (02) 8919999. For details, visit shows@repertoryphilippines.com; or call (02) 5716926.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

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