A tale of two bullies

As with individual persons who are too big and powerful than their fellows and tend to push their weight around, so are big and powerful nations as they tend to impose their will on others, making them not any less bullies. Of the world's 200-something countries, two stand out as among the most active bullies --China and the United States.

Both China and the United States use their great military strength and awesome economies, either impliedly or actively, to push their own interests and get what they want, especially from countries that simply cannot measure up to the level of their superiority. The only law that China and the US respect is what they say the law is.

But while both countries are essentially bullies in that you cannot say no to their wishes, a huge difference still characterizes their approach to how they get their own way. China is more direct with its actions and intentions. More often than not, China uses neither subtlety nor guile to get what it wants. It employs no hypocrisy nor pretense.

In the case of the South China Sea, China simply announced ownership of the whole area and, short of cordoning it off, began patrolling it the way any owner would, leaving even the US no choice but to play ball. While the US makes so much fanfare about its face-saving freedom of navigation missions through the area, it actually cannot do so without first alerting China of its intentions --a couched by-your-leave, if you will.

The United States, on the other hand, still imposes its will at will, without regard for the will of others. It still grabs what it wants or, in the changing dynamics of a new geopolitical order, what it can. The only difference between American tactics and China's in pursuing the same interests is that the USA pretends it is scratching your back when it grabs you by the neck and presses your back against the wall.

In other words, America goes about its business with hypocrisy. It claims to be the bastion of freedom and democracy but cannot stand countries that use their own freedom and democracy to pursue policies that do not hew to American interests. The relationship between the US and the Philippines is a very instructive case in point.

The US is meddling in purely Philippine domestic sovereign affairs, particularly how the latter conducts its anti-illegal drug campaign and in pursuing a case against Leila de Lima, a senator. Proper charges have been filed in the proper courts. Yet the US Senate wants to ban entry to any Philippine official involved in the case. All these to shore up its sagging image before a world that has finally awakened to American hypocrisy.

But while the US pokes its finger into everybody else's pie, it is a real cry baby when it feels it is being interfered with. It loves to dish it out but cannot take it when the tables are turned. America did nothing when China stole Philippine entitlements in the South China Sea. But it actively tries to interfere in a purely Philippine domestic judicial affair. We are just a street puppy, Mr. America. Go kick the dragon, sir. Or is your slip showing, ma’am?