This is a repeat of Ukraine. Jailing opposition and silencing critics. I think the goal of the west is to just damage China's manufacturing capabilities and in return since the Philippines has nothing and is the perfect example of an Asian rice powered sex machine for the west. China's military retaliation will be worth less than the missiles they spend shooting at them. Also it blocks most of ASEAN trade. I wonder why China is so lax or laid back in soft retaliation?
Attacking a country as pitiful and militarily useless as the Philippines, especially when compared to China's industrial and technological might, would hardly be an accomplishment. It would certainly be nothing for China to be proud of.
The goal, it seems, is precisely to bait China into squashing the Philippines like a bug. Such an action would damage China itself – the very nation projected to deliver GDP growth greater than the U.S. and Europe, arguably the world's most crucial engine of economic strength.
The continued rise of ASEAN countries and Asia, it appears, must not be permitted, no matter what Europeans and Canadians proclaim through their vaunted media and social media platforms.
Imagine a war breaking out in the region: suddenly, manufacturing strategies like onshoring, reshoring, friendshoring – every 'shoring' scheme imaginable – would gain immense momentum, jumpstarting the process with lightning speed. Simultaneously, the anti-China media narratives cultivated for decades – portraying supposed malevolent intentions, warlike aims, and imperialistic ambitions – would appear validated for the entire world to witness.
China absolutely must not take any action that would hand the Western world the justification it craves or fulfill its apparent lust for confrontation.
If war becomes unavoidable, it must directly involve the United States. Only then can China confront and beat up on the true master, the ringleader, the greatest proliferator of mass propaganda: the U.S. itself.