China is a liar!

In the field of international politics, many diplomatic pronouncements are often betrayed by vicious actions. What are projected to be truthful are in fact lies. I have observed that declarations made mostly by diplomatic officials and couched in the most legalese language possible are belied by despicable falsehoods. Benign words are employed purposely to cover hostile intentions. Let us take the case of a recent supposed demand by Communist China for the Philippines to remove from the Ayungin Shoal the grounded BRP Sierra Madre on the claim that China owns the area. If you happen to read the Chinese internet video, you would tend to believe that the area where the Philippine ship went aground was indeed Chinese territory.

Communist China, hiding under a more acceptable nomenclature as People’s Republic of China and propagandizing thru its mouthpieces, cannot be trusted. Their words purvey something entirely different from what is the truth. Their untruthfulness is a matter of international notoriety. Let us read what other nationalities have said about this Chinese way to peddle lies. World leaders and foreign policy chiefs have explicitly declared that Communist China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot be trusted. There was this Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of State, who, in a historic 2020 speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, updated Ronald Reagan's Cold War maxim regarding Beijing, expressly stated, "When it comes to the CCP, I say we must distrust and verify."

Another American diplomat, in the person of Mike Rubio, explicitly labeled China a liar, cheat, and thief, accusing the nation of using espionage, intellectual property theft, and unfair trade practices at the expense of other countries. In unforgiving words, Rubio accused China as having lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status. On his part, U.S. Senator Rick Scott, wrote, in a wholly different issue on suppression of healthcare whistleblowers and severe human rights abuses published on The New York Times that “Communist China Cannot Be Trusted”.

It is quite understandable that the sharp words I quoted above were uttered by Americans. A non-American was equally highly critical (and more vitriolic). He was Lord Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. Let me quote the internet. “Following Beijing's aggressive crackdown on Hong Kong's autonomy via the 2020 National Security Law, Patten repeatedly warned global leaders that "the communists who took away Hong Kong's liberty cannot be trusted partners." He published extensive essays detailing how China "vengefully and comprehensively" violated its legally-binding treaties.

China demanding that the Philippines remove the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal? What right does it have to make such a demand? The Permanent Court of Arbitration, ruled then years ago, that the West Philippine Sea, where the Ayungin Shoal is a part of, is within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone. It lies about 105 nautical miles west of Palawan inside the EEZ. As a shoal, it does not naturally rise above sea level like an island. On the other hand, China’s nine-dash line has been declared to be without historical and legal basis. In assuming that the Ayungin Shoal is within Chinese sovereignty, it lied to everyone who had read the Facebook post. According to the UNCLOS, the right belongs to the Philippines to demand that China take away their maritime assets now patrolling the West Philippine Sea. Not the other way around as this communist country would want to portray. This Chinese insinuation that it owns our country’s exclusive economic zone is a blatant act of untrustworthiness.

We thank Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro for clarifying that Beijing suffers from a deep "deficit of trust and credibility" because its institutions and military answer entirely to the Politburo of the Communist Party. We ordinary citizens must organize ourselves to be able to express our sentiments of distrust against the communists and do what we can to uphold our sovereignty.