The Philippines and the US (and China)

The Great Game (Pacific Edition)

Eriberto P. Lozada Jr.Anthropology/Environmental Studies, Davidson College (USA)Associate Dean of Faculty

Senior Scholarsat Queens

2 October 2020

My research• China specialist• Religion and Politics• Food and Globalization• Social/Cultural Impact of

Science & Technology• Sports and Civil Society• Diaspora Ethnicity

(Filipino, Chinese)• Chinese Economic

Development in Africa• Sustainable Aquaculture

More: https://lozada.davidson.edu

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914)• The Influence of Sea Power

Upon History (1660-1783), 1890

• As President of the Naval War College, Mahan’s thinking greatly influenced leaders of the time (e.g.,Asst. SecNavTheodore Roosevelt)

• Result of the Spanish-American War (1898): territories throughout the world that could be used as coaling stations and naval bases

More: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/mahan

History of the Philippines (China, US)• Archipelago of 7,000 islands

has long had political groups and trade throughout East and Southeast Asia (including tributary relations with the Tang dynasty)

• 1565-1898: Spanish colonial rule

• 1898 – Spanish-American War, Philippines becomes a US territory

• 1946 – Philippine Independence

• 1972 – 1986; martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, who had been elected in 1965

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippineshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D01xKvBbRgA

Filipino Scouts in the American Army (1905, Library of Congress)

Since 1986 (Fifth Republic)• 1986 – after the People

Power movement, Aquino restored the constitution

• 1992 – US military bases returned to the Philippines

• 2016 – Rodrigo Duterte elected as president; shortly after his inauguration, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines on the South China Sea conflict Inauguration of Corazon Aquino, 1986 (Wikimedia)

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea• 17th century mare librum replaced

by the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas in 1982, put into practice in 1994

• To date, 162 countries have signed & ratified this international treaty, but 21 nations including the United States have not ratified it.

• Major components: International Maritime Organization, International Whaling Commission, and the International Seabed Authority

• Major definitions: territorial waters = 12 NM; Exclusive Economic Zone = 200 NM; EEZ – state has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources

Protestors display placards during a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Makati, the Philippines, to protest China’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea on February 10, 2018 (Council on Foreign Relations)

Overlapping EEZ’s• China has historically not been a

maritime power (Zheng He 15th

century Ming voyages)• Maritime conflicts in East China

Sea and South China Sea• 1895 Sino-Japanese War →

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands conflict• 1947 – KMT government pens

“eleven-dash line” on maps, claiming South China Sea; 1953, modified to nine-dash line by CCP

• 1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War (Paracel Islands conflict)

• Spratly Islands in South China Sea - Philippines v. China (PCA 2013-19) More: https://www.cfr.org/timeline/chinas-maritime-disputes

The Great Game (Pacific Edition)• The Great Game was the political

struggle over Central Asia between Russia, Britain, and China in the 19th century

• The Pacific version of the Great Game is the political struggle over the sea, for both the South China Sea and East China Sea

• The major players: the United States and China. Caught in the middle – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, ASEAN

• Sources of conflict: mineral rights (seabed mining – rare earth minerals); oil; trade/freedom of navigation; fisheries More: Meyer, Karl and Shareen Blair Brysac (1999). The

Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Basic Books.

Whither the South China Sea?• 2012 – China launches it first

aircraft carrier• 2013 – Japan increases its

defense budget• 2014 – US, Philippines signs new

defense agreement, returning US military personnel

• 2016 – PCA rules in favor of thePhilippines against the Chineseclaims; Duterte though softens claims by making Scarborough a no-fishing zone

• 2019 – Duterte reverses course, building up presence in Spratlys

• 2020 – US declares Chineseclaims in South China Sea areunlawful

More: https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/territorial-disputes-south-china-sea

Philippine Navy personnel plant a flag at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, 2012 (CFR – AFP/Getty)

Questions/Comments?erlozada@davidson.edu

https://lozada.davidson.eduTwitter: @thefieldworkerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/fujilozada/