IN a conference I recently attended, I engaged and talked with different academics, scholars and senior government advisers on very sensitive and consequential issues affecting our nation’s fate. Specifically, these are the geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, Southeast Asia and East Asia. While our countrymen are distracted by corruption scandals and impeachment proceedings, the world has not stopped turning. Despite the intense political intramurals among our national leaders as a prelude to the 2028 elections, I was surprised to learn that our Asian neighbors have been looking at us with the highest regard and admiration.
Apparently, the courageous stand of our defense and military officials against Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea, particularly President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s strong pronouncements that the country will never surrender even an inch of its territory nor abandon its sovereign rights, has made waves across countries in the region. Somehow, other countries see the Philippines as a hedge in the defense of their own national sovereignty. With China emerging as the dominant regional power in the Indo-Pacific corridor, many believe that someone had to stand up and test Beijing’s resolve. To most of them, the Philippines has become that crusading nation.
In the wake of the 10th anniversary of the country’s winning its arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Asian neighbors have closely watched the Philippines’ rotational supply to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, where Chinese vessels have repeatedly blocked, rammed and water-cannoned Philippine ships. They lauded the Philippines’ decision to publicly expose and shame China for these incidents before the global community instead of quietly accepting them. India pointed out the Philippines’ large acquisition of the BrahMos supersonic missile system despite Chinese objections and threats. Japan has asserted its security cooperation with the Philippines by sending more patrol vessels, coastal radars and other military assets. Australia has stepped up joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea under the watchful eye of Chinese vessels. Meanwhile, South Korea continues to remember how the Philippine Expeditionary Force fought side by side with its troops during the Korean War to repel the Chinese and North Korean invasion in the 1950s.
I sensed that many of these countries have, in effect, come to regard the Philippines as the potential frontline state should armed confrontation with China erupt. Some even described us as the “Ukraine of the Indo-Pacific” — not simply because of our geographic location but due to the fact that we represent smaller nations standing up against a much stronger aggressor. They also recognize the battle-tested capabilities of the Filipino soldier after decades of fighting communist insurgents, Muslim separatists and terrorist groups. Few militaries have accumulated such wealth of experience across jungles, mountains, littorals and urban battlefields — and trained by the most powerful military in the Western Hemisphere.
Our Asian neighbors have increasingly looked up to us as the tip of the spear in case conflict erupts in either the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea.
For one, the United States Indo-Pacific Command has affirmed its ironclad commitment to the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty. Any armed attack against the nation’s armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific and South China Sea could trigger treaty obligations. Next, the Philippines has shifted its military strategy from internal security to territorial and archipelagic defense by deploying surface-to-air missiles in Northern and Western Luzon. It has expanded its security alliances with Japan, Australia and other like-minded countries. The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) has been increased to other strategic sites, while the annual Balikatan exercises have become larger and more sophisticated than ever, with allies increasingly playing a part, like Japan. All these developments have reinforced the growing perception in the region that the Philippines is the tip of the spear in any geopolitical flashpoint across the Indo-Pacific corridor.
The only missing link is if the Philippines can only temper its domestic upheavals and realize that there is a far bigger enemy to fight than endless and futile political bickering. History reminds us that nations overcome the tribulations of invasions and aggression if the people stay united. And if the Philippines is indeed the tip of the spear, then our people must first forge themselves into an indestructible steel — for a spear that is sharp but divided will falter when real conflict arises in the future.