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[av_heading heading=’INTERNATIONAL ILONGGO | Benham Rise: Looking at the big picture ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
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Sunday, March 19, 2017
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BENHAM Rise is on the news. Chinese boats were reported to have entered the area under suspicious circumstances. To be clear, Benham Rise not part of the country’s national territory. We don’t have sovereignty over it like we do over Cebu, Manila or Iloilo.
However, we do have exclusive rights to explore the area and exploit whatever natural resources are found therein, as it is part of our Extended Continental Shelf (ECS). What this means is that the Chinese do have the right to pass through Benham Rise. What is not alright, though, is the suspicious nature of their movements in the area.
According to several security officials, a Chinese survey vessel was spotted in that area for a few months last year. Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana suspects that the vessel was investigating the area for possible mineral and gas deposits which, if true, could strain Philippine-Sino relations despite the efforts of the Duterte administration.
However, as important as these territorial disputes are, they are merely smaller aspects of a much larger issue: China’s growing sphere of influence.
Chinese military presence in Benham Rise as well as in the West Philippine Sea is indicative of China’s growing regional and geopolitical ambitions. The big question for us, however, is how that growing sphere of influence will affect our country.
In antiquity, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) called itself Zhōngguó, literally the center of the world, and it considered practically all societies outside its territories either as barbarians or as vassals. These periods of regional hegemony were interrupted whenever China’s dynasties fell apart or when they were invaded by the very same barbarians they looked down on. Chinese influence, therefore, tends to rise and ebb according to the country’s fortunes.
At the moment, China’s growth remains strong but is projected to slow down in the foreseeable future partly due to economic/debt-related issues and partly due to demographic constraints. However, just because Chinese power may slow down doesn’t mean it won’t be able to consolidate in the Asian region, which brings us back to the issue of Benham Rise and China’s growing sphere of influence.
Despite what President Duterte may think, there are no good or bad guys in geopolitics. There are only interests, and the Chinese and Americans certainly have no qualms in pursuing theirs at the expense of others (just as we should if we were in their positions). Although he is correct to be suspicious of the US, he should exercise that very same suspicion towards the Chinese for the very same reasons. The Chinese are extending their influence to serve their interests and such interests are not always in line with the interests of our country.
To be clear, from the perspective of pure realpolitik, absent any other alternative, there is nothing wrong in trading one hegemon (the US) for another (China), but only if the transition serves the country’s interests. So the important question to the issue is: Will the Philippines be better off under China’s sphere of influence or not?
That’s a question only the Filipino people can answer, and only time will tell. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
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