EDITORIAL - China's bullying hides its shame

It is patriotically heart-warming for Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio to demolish China's 9-dash claim over much of the South China Sea, including many of the islets that we claim as our own, with a very authoritative and well-researched lecture at De La Salle University.

The presentation included incontrovertible proof (meaning derived from China's own official documents as well as from other official sources) that China, through its 9-dash line, has taken for itself territory that does not belong to it.

The Carpio lecture is entitled "Historical Facts, Historical Lies, and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea" and should be available to all Filipinos through the Internet so we can all be enlightened by the truth and what is going on.

It is one thing, however, to be enlightened about the truth and what is going on, and another to do what should be done after the enlightenment. It is just unfortunate that in this regard, there is nothing much an enlightened Filipino nation can do against China.

Even without the help of Carpio, even the most uneducated Filipino can see that China is proceeding from nothing else but a position of military and economic strength and none other. Its refusal to submit to international arbitration exposes its fear of being exposed as nothing but a bully and a land-grabber.

Military and economic strength can in fact alter boundaries and change lifestyles. But they can never add or detract from the truth. And the truth is, China has absolutely no valid claim over the territories it has forcefully grabbed from the Philippines.

China, of course, is good only against countries that cannot match its military and economic strength. But when countries have the resources and the willingness to fight back, poor China often balks. Look at Japan. More importantly, look at Taiwan.

For all its rhetoric about Taiwan being a mere province, China has failed, nay, held back from taking it over. And that is because China is scared Taiwan might embarrass it. Almost the entire Chinese historical and cultural artifacts and treasures are in Taiwan but China is scared to reclaim it.

And so China is taking it against the weaker countries, such as the Philippines, not knowing how more embarrassing its position has become -- inutile against a province that defiantly proclaimed independence and owns nearly all of its national heritage, it turns to bullying others to hide the shame of its own sham.