Gen. Emmanuel Bautista (ret.), Executive Director of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, visited DLSU last October 18 to deliver a lecture entitled Geopolitical Ramifications of the West Philippine Sea Dispute: The China-U.S Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific and the Philippines in the Multipurpose Hall of the Br. Andrew Gonzalez Hall. Bautista’s talk, which was organized by the International Studies Department, aimed to engage faculty and students on the geopolitics of the rivalry between the United States (US) and China in the West Philippine Sea dispute.
Tale of two powers
As the highlight of the lecture, Bautista explained that although the US currently dominates the Indo-Pacific region, China’s rise to power is seen as a threat because America’s military strength is spread out in places such as Syria, which is located far from the Indo-Pacific region.
According to Bautista, the US and China are engaged in a military and technological competition with each other. He expounded that the US uses the trade war as an “instrument to mitigate China’s growing economic strength.”
Bautista conveyed that even though China can bank on its immense geography and population to counter the US, its ability to sustain territorial expansion is tied to whether the Chinese economy can handle the country’s global expansion.
The Asia-Pacific region has become an arena for the competing interests of the two powers, Bautista asserted. The former AFP chief highlighted the clashing visions of the two superpowers: America’s vision centers around the advancement of “a free and open Indo-Pacific”, while China’s pursuit is the envisionment of the “dream of securing its great power status which [China] believes it had in the past.”
In the middle
Apart from the great powers, there are also states which Bautista termed “middle powers”—nations which hold moderate sway over the region. These countries include Australia, Japan, and India. According to him, the three middle powers and the US have formed a “Quad” alliance, as their interests are threatened by the rise of China.
The role of the Philippines in regional politics was also examined. In the game of geopolitics, Bautista explained, controlling strategic locations can make or break a country in the pursuit of their goals. As South East Asia (SEA) is in the middle of the Quad, it is a key region for both the global superpowers. In the middle of SEA is the Philippines, which he referred to as “key terrain” in the region.
“Note that the Philippines is the gateway between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. So if you control this real estate, you control the gateway, the chokepoint to access [these three bodies of water],” he elaborated.
Weighing in the balance
Concerning the implications of the West Philippine Sea dispute toward the Philippines, Bautista said that “we are witnessing a highly competitive Great Power gain in the Indo-Pacific Area.”
Given the country’s strategic location, Bautista noted that the key challenge is finding the balance between asserting Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights while maintaining cordial bilateral relations both with China and the US. He asserted that the country should not give up its territorial rights to take advantage of economic opportunities presented by China.
The executive director pointed out the difficulty of allowing Chinese presence in the country without compromising national security. “We have heard of efforts to acquire Fuga Island in the north in the Batanes Area [and] even the Grande Island in Subic,” he said, citing Chinese presence in the country’s telecommunications and energy industry.
When it comes to managing territorial disputes with China, Bautista admitted that the Hague ruling, which is in favor of the Philippines, has no enforcement mechanism. However, he added that the country can seek compliance through available instruments of national power, such as information and diplomacy. Recalling an encounter with the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Bautista shared that he was assured that “all the rulings of the international court…have been implemented over time.”
Bautista concluded by emphasizing the intergenerational aspect of the dispute and stressed that Filipinos must remain aware of geopolitical developments in the West Philippine Sea dispute. “We should not be taken into the Chinese narrative that the West Philippine Sea dispute is between them and the United States only,” Bautista pronounced.
Before his assignment as Executive Director of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, Bautista previously served as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under former President Noynoy Aquino. He retired from his post in July 2014
