[Hindi Ito Marites] Is the West Philippine Sea issue really a contest between the US and China?

Every time the Philippines enters into security agreements or holds military exercises with its allies, you can count on China to come out with a strongly-worded statement expressing its displeasure. But nothing displeases the former empire more than engagements between the Philippines and the United States.

So, in hopes of discouraging Filipinos from pursuing security ties with the Americans, China tries to frame its encroachment in the West Philippine Sea as a contest between itself and the US. The premise: the Philippines ought to side with China, the “friendly neighbor,” and shun the US, the “intrusive outsider.”

But, as Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug shows us in this episode, this narrative is evidently false, because it’s not the US that suffers every time China carves out territory or harasses vessels, but the Philippines. The US may be pulled in as a treaty ally, but the West Philippine Sea is an issue of the Philippines. – Rappler.com

Presenter & writer: Marites Vitug
Producer & writer: JC Gotinga
Video editor: Jen Agbuya
Videographers: Errol Almario, Ulysis Pontanares
Graphic artists: David Castuciano, Marian Hukom, Alyssa Arizabal