Reckoning with China’s escalated bullying in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) demands sobriety rather than baying knee-jerk posturing.

If it looks as if China is preying on our fraught nerves, it can also be said that we, too, are toying with China’s nerves, frustrating her hegemonic ambitions.

An instance of the war of nerves came in California last month when President Marcos wanted to show he was willing to talk with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“Xi didn’t say anything,” Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez recalled to Nikkei Asia. “He just listened, and then just said, ‘We’ll just let our defense and diplomats talk about this.’”

Given that nerves underlie the Philippine-China WPS standoff, soberly steeling our nerves and casting a cold eye on China’s high-handed provocations is the wisest and winning course for us.

Sobriety, in fact, was the commendable tack Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. took last week.

This despite Brawner witnessing firsthand how Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels shadowed, blocked, and water-cannoned the Filipino resupply boats on their way to the BRP Sierra Madre. Brawner was aboard one of the boats.

“I reminded them (soldiers) to practice maximum tolerance,” he said, adding that despite the patent bullying, our soldiers shouldn’t attempt confrontational moves that would violate international law.

“Paiwas-iwas lang tayo (Let’s just avoid them) as long as we stick to the mission of resupplying and rotating our troops… and protecting our fishermen and Filipinos in the WPS,” he said.

Essentially, Brawner’s counsel of maximum tolerance and keeping within the bounds of international law are not only exhortations to stick to the high ground but are a subtle tactical maneuver to contrast our sobriety with China’s bullying and self-interested interpretations of international law.

Still, some mistakenly believe Brawner’s posture is deficient in timidity and firmness compared to what other leaders are saying. A gung-ho senator, for instance, advocates a tit-for-tat water cannonade of Chinese vessels.

But we should be aware that Brawner’s posture is a disciplined reiteration of the major policy direction this country’s civilian and military leadership have collectively undertaken against Chinese bullying in the WPS.

Surprisingly, that seemingly counterintuitive major policy direction is now seen as succeeding in thwarting China’s hegemonic ambitions.

The reiterated policy direction, of course, is the campaign to cast an international spotlight on China’s swarming presence and aggressive maritime behaviors in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Labeled by Filipino security officials as a “transparency initiative,” the policy “has proved to be a game changer,” observed one geostrategic analyst.

Analysts see the policy as effective since China hasn’t actually met the policy with considerable economic and political reprisals.

Which, for that matter, indicates that an apocalyptic war with China is still off the board. 

True, China’s heightened bullying is maddening.

Still, as assessed by one Filipino security analyst, the damage done so far to Filipino boats the other week was “still within bounds,” precluding any escalated retaliatory moves on our part.

We, however, can comfort ourselves with the fact that the embarrassment inflicted on prestige-conscious China by our publicized exposure of her illegal activities is incalculable.

A measure of the publicized embarrassment came last week when Britain officially condemned what it called “unsafe and escalatory tactics deployed by Chinese vessels” against the Philippines.

Smarting from the British censure, China, through its embassy in Britain, delivered its stock combative but clearly defensive response to the rebuke.

“We urge the British side to respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, to stop stirring up trouble and sowing discord,” the Chinese embassy said on its website.

But with more and more countries being made aware of China’s abuses, her official line comes off as strained and hypocritical.

Additionally, as more and more countries are aware of China’s bullying, this awareness will eventually work for us, forcing China to stand down or at least moderate her illegal activities in the WPS.