Manila's island plan recipe for regional disaster

This is an editorial from China Daily.

By stressing a plan for the development of disputed islands in the South China Sea does not include "fortifying the BRP Sierra Madre" it grounded on China's Ren'ai Reef in 1999, Manila seems to be trying to assure Beijing the plan newly unveiled by the Philippine military is harmless.

But Beijing is not going to buy that. The plan revealed by Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Romeo Brawner Jr after attending a command conference led by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday has even stirred wide domestic concerns.

According to Brawner's comments to the media, Manila plans to "improve" all the disputed islands it is "occupying" in the South China Sea. Also included in the large-scale plan is the acquisition of more ships, radar and aircraft as the Philippines shifts its focus from internal defense to "territorial defense", he said.

By whatever standard, the focus of the shift is anything but defensive in nature.

Since any attempt to fortify the crumbling World War II-era ship BRP Sierra Madre, in a bid to create a fait accompli, suffices to irk Beijing. Manila is certainly not naive to the degree to which the plan is a provocation to Beijing. In fact, it represents a grave provocation to all the parties the Philippines has disputes with.

If the Philippines really follows through on its plan to develop the disputed islands to make them more habitable for its troops, as its military chief of staff said, it is taking the initiative to spark conflict in the waters.

Given the huge input the plan will necessarily entail and the lackluster economy of the Philippines, Manila must have received certain assurances of extra but sizable funding and material assistance before plucking up the courage to talk big.

But even if the United States, an ardent ally of Manila, has pledged support, the degree to which that will be forthcoming is open to question given it is already providing assistance to Ukraine and Israel, and the outcome of the US presidential election may temper its aggressive and troublemaking foreign policy.

After one and a half years in power, by shifting its focus from domestic development to betting the nation's future on power games, the Ferdinand Marcos government has downgraded the Philippines from a key regional player upholding strategic autonomy to a ludicrous puppet of the warmongering US.