Duterte is seen as trying to avoid having a war between China and the United States start so close to the Philippines. Filipino military leaders point out that the U.S. would operate at a disadvantage against Chinese military moves without access to some Filipino bases and that the Philippines would probably be attacked by China no matter what.
That happened to many “neutral” countries during World War II and for Chinese territorial expansion to work the Philippines is an obstacle with or without Americans involved.
The eventual annexation of the Philippines by China is openly discussed in Chinese media. What is happening between the Philippines and China is typical of the approach China is taking to all of its vulnerable and angry neighbors.
they also note that locals hate the Chinese. Yes. Remember, a lot of the economy and government is run by Chinese or their descendants.
38 percent of Filipinos trust China compared to 76 percent trusting the United States, 74 trusting the UN and 70 percent Japan. Only half trusted the EU (European Union) and fewer trusted Russia.
Duterte is seen as an outsider, and is popular not despite of but because of his macho approach to law and order. And if he can
historically, in medieval times, the West Philippine sea was ruled by Chinese pirates, not china per se... and they tried to take over the Philippines in 1574 but were defeated.
If the Chines try a takeover, our area will rebel. .., our area has a long history of rebellion.... wlink2 When I first came here, Lolo still had a pistol and a WWII submachine gun hidden in his closet. After his stroke he gave it away and we no longer have guns, but you have to realize there are a lot of illegal and unregistered weapons here. This Bloomsberg article estimates 600 thousand...
but picking on the Philippines, the weakest link, is one way for China to distract their people from the lousy economy and the corruption.
more about China in this podcast.
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