Manila the one acting like a modern-day Viking with its plundering in the waters

In a Financial Times report on the maritime disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea published on Tuesday, the finger of blame is pointed at China. But by citing the remarks of some senior officials of the Philippines, the one-sided report simply fries Manila in its own oil.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's National Security Council, is quoted as saying, "We cannot go toe to toe with China". He laments the Philippines is not a rising superpower like China with enormous resources at its disposal, and that it has to live with what it has.

But it is not China, but the Marcos government, that has taken the initiative to reignite the disputes whose fires had largely died down after a consensus was reached between Beijing and Manila that they should be resolved through consultations to the benefit of both sides and the region. It was only when the Marcos government decided to leverage the Joe Biden administration's gunboat diplomacy to the Philippines' "advantage", replacing its predecessor's cautious and practical balanced foreign policy with a blind bet on the US, that the disputes flared up again.

Apart from continuously trying to incite China into acting as a "bully" with its provocations, the Marcos government has also opened several military bases for the US in the north of the Philippines overlooking waters to the south of China's Taiwan island, and tried to purchase and install US midrange missile systems whose range covers large patches of East and South China, claiming these aggressive moves are necessary "capacity building" to protect a "free and open Indo-Pacific".

Meanwhile, with the backing of some Western media, the Marcos government has also initiated a propaganda war against China at home and abroad, seeking to blame China for the South China Sea tensions, and trying to rally other regional countries to its side.

In its latest move in that regard, Alfonso Torres Jr, chief of the Philippine military's Western Command, was quoted in the FT report as saying: "I never expected someone who wants to be a superpower to behave like Vikings".

But Torres knows well that it is his country not China that is behaving like the "Vikings", and that China has exercised long-term restraint in responding to the Philippines' shameless provocations, such as its grounding of a ship on China's Ren'ai Reef so that it can justify its untenable claim.

Trying to denigrate one of the world's largest sources of goods, investment, growth and stability, and ardent promoter of international connectivity and cooperation by referring to it as acting like the "Vikings" just reflects the absurdity of the Marcos government's China policy.

Manila is trying to make the maritime disputes a defining factor of not just Sino-Philippine relations but also the regional situation by soliciting the support of the United States and the US' allies.

It is not the US' weapons or its promised "protection", but China's restraint that keeps the region's stability.

China will not be deterred from safeguarding its sovereignty no matter the military muscle that is flexed against it. But neither does it have any thought of making any country, including the US, an enemy, not to mention a country, such as the Philippines, which is a close neighbor.

With a new US administration taking office on Jan 20, many US allies are trying to mend their ties with China fearing they will be left high and dry by any change of US policy. The Marcos government too should take the opportunity to reevaluate its policy toward China.

The positive and negative lessons of China-Philippines relations in recent years have proved time and again that it is not easy to build good relations, but it is easy to destroy them.

China-Philippines relations are facing serious difficulties and challenges, which are rooted in the fact that the Philippine side has repeatedly violated the consensus of the two sides and its own commitments, continuously pushed its infringement of rights at sea and magnified its speculation on public opinion. China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroads and there is no way of avoiding conflict and confrontation, except through dialogue and consultation.