Herman Tiu Laurel: US bully pulpit again

This Nov. 19, 2014, photo
shows an elderly Chinese on a
bicycle in Beijing, China. Photo
by Dennis D. Estopace

(The following is an excerpt of an article that appeared on the "Die Hard III" column by Herman Tiu-Laurel and which appeared in The Daily Tribune on April 15, 2015. The views expressed here are those of Mr. Tiu-Laurel's and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, this blog's author.)

 

THE past month has seen a build-up in anti-China rabble-rousing in the local media, led by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, on China’s South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (SCS/WPS) constructions. It peaked as US and Western media joined in concert, following a headline on US ambassador Philip Goldberg’s condolence for the Special Action Force (SAF) 44 amid the latest Mamasapano hearings in Congress that highlighted US involvement.

Anti-China propaganda belaboring that country’s SCS/WPS constructions were already drummed up a year ago, and we probably won’t see the end of it for many years to come.

Last week US President Obama commented, “Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions…”

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson responded, “I think everyone can see very clearly who has the biggest size and muscle in the world. But we have many times explained… China has always been a resolute proponent of peace and stability in the SCS. We have always proactively advocated using a dual track approach to resolve the South China Sea issue.”

For the past 70 years the US has been flexing its 1,000-strong military bases-muscle spread across 156 countries, and its most memorable results have been the division of the Korean Peninsula with two million Koreans killed; the Vietnam War with up to four million Vietnamese killed; the 2003 Operation “Iraqi Freedom” with up to two million Iraqis killed; and hundreds of thousands more in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and, most recently, in Yemen.

We wonder how many will be killed when the US “Pivot to Asia” muscles in 60 percent of its military forces in this part of the world by 2020 and triggers similar conflicts.