A warmonger is someone who is strongly pro-war. Warmongers favor war above all other options, are constantly promoting war, always wanting to invade or attack another country, regardless of the cost, and even if it is not the best option.
China’s efforts to advance its domestic, economic, foreign policy, and security objectives, particularly in the West Philippine Sea, are widely recognized in the overt acts called “Gray Zone Tactics” which are coercive Chinese government geo-political, economic, military, and cyber and information operations activities beyond regular diplomatic and economic activities, and below the use of kinetic military force with related activities, like water cannon attacks on Filipino vessels and their crew.
China’s latest efforts to prevent the Philippines from resupplying its detachment of marines stationed at Second Thomas Shoal represents a significant escalation of its aggressive and coercive actions.
Available evidence suggests that China’s objective is to dislodge the Philippine marines, and there appears to be a greater sense of urgency in recent months.
Beijing is practiced at coordinated maneuvers by Chinese Coast Guard ships, maritime militia vessels (which appear as fishing boats), combined with People’s Liberation Army Navy ships.
China’s “gray hulls” usually remain in the background, with the “white hulls” and fishing boats taking the lead in harassing Philippine ships.
This allows Beijing to apply armed force, while keeping its actions just below the threshold of war.
Sen. Imee Marcos, head of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, made her claim on social media that she has knowledge of a Chinese plan to target the country with hypersonic missiles, that has so far had more than 900,000 views on TikTok and over 100,000 on Facebook.
In her video, Marcos said China had set 25 targets around the Philippine archipelago that would attack with hypersonic missiles, and the northern Batanes islands, close to Taiwan, would be among the first targets.
No wonder more Pinoys are fearful that the nation is bracing for the threat of war with China.
Analysts say that there is a very low chance of that happening since the US, Australia, and Japan have treaties with Philippines, with the defensive efforts including: increasing US rotational bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement; opening negotiations for a reciprocal access agreement with Japan; pushing for deeper integration within the traditional hub-and-spokes network through a US-Philippines-Japan trilateral and the Quad with Australia; setting up a first subcommittee on maritime security cooperation with the European Union; and forging forward-looking security-related memoranda of understanding with like-minded partners such as India, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands — countries that share the same goal: keeping the Indo-Pacific’s maritime domain free, open, and rules-based.
More importantly, the Marcos Jr. administration has exercised the Philippines’ agency by positioning the West Philippine Sea as the primary focus for maritime security cooperation.
Along with strengthening defence alignments, our government is pursuing greater economic cooperation to address China’s multi-faceted source of power projection. NO TO WAR!
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