Content area
Full Text
Abstract
This article examines why and how small powers balance big powers. One such small power is the Philippines, which-despite its military weakness-applies a balancing policy on an emergent China relative to the South China Sea imbroglio. Largely, this balancing policy is the upshot of three developments: a) the present Aquino administration's efforts to disassociate itself from the previous Arroyo administration's policy of equi-balancing China and the US; b) China's heavy-handed behaviour in the South China Sea dispute; and c) the willingness of the US to assist the Philippines in constraining an assertive China. In conclusion, the article offers two reasons why this balancing policy is risky and difficult. First, the Philippines needs time and resources to develop the military capability to back its territorial claim in the South China Sea; and second, the US, though supportive of the Philippine position, is wary of triggering a full-blown geo-strategic rivalry with China.
Keywords: Philippine-China relations; Philippine foreign policy; South China Sea dispute; Philippine-US relations.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5509/2014871005
On April 10, 2012 the Philippine Navy's flagship, the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar, tried to apprehend several Chinese fishing boats in the Scarborough Shoal. However, two Chinese maritime surveillance vessels arrived and blocked the arrest of the Chinese fishermen, who were hauling corals, clams and live sharks into their boats. To prevent the incident from escalating into an armed clash, the Philippines replaced its surface combatant with a smaller coast guard vessel. Instead of reciprocating, China raised the stakes by deploying the Yuzheng 310-its most advanced and largest patrol ship equipped with machine guns, light cannons and electronic sensors. This incident underscores a stark reality: China's naval power casts a shadow over the Philippines, which (along with Vietnam) is at the forefront of the South China Sea dispute with China.1 China specifically targets the Philippines in a brinkmanship game in as much as the latter openly challenges its expansive maritime claim in the South China Sea.
Notwithstanding the dismal state of its military, the Philippines adopts a delicate balancing policy vis-à-vis an assertive China. In mid-2011, it decided to pursue the substantial modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that is still preoccupied with internal security operations against domestic insurgent groups. President Benigno Simeon Aquino ordered the...