I was among many people who were utterly disappointed that President Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address didn’t dwell much on the issue of China’s maritime intrusion into the country’s exclusive economic zone.
I was expecting that he would at least assuage concerns about China’s unabated encroachment deeper into maritime territories that we rightfully own. He owes it to more than 80% of Filipinos who mistrust the Communist state. In a recent SWS survey, Filipinos’ net trust in China fell from poor to bad, skidding to -36 from -27 in the December 2019 survey.
Duterte again repeated his fear of war if the Philippines were to pursue the arbitral ruling against China, which the community of nations recognize. Other than his usual motherhood statement that the Philippines will “assert what is rightfully ours,” I didn’t hear anything concrete about what he plans to do about it. Instead, he merely dismissed the ruling as unenforceable “because they [sic] were never part of that arbitration.”
With this pronouncement, I wonder where we would sit in the face of the United States and the rest of the free world forming a united front against China.
Washington under President Joe Biden has given up hopes that China would embrace a free and democratic system as previously kindled by Richard Nixon’s pioneering 1972 visit. Now President Xi Jinping’s regime is viewed as an adversary, a strategic rival, or a global menace. The European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), the United Kingdom, and regional allies all agree that the period of engagement has ended, given Xi’s aggressive, authoritarian one-party state which the West suspects is engaged in human-rights abuses, cyberhacking, trade, maritime disputes, among many others.
Analysts see the combative approach of the US creating a powder keg that could explode at any time. The Biden administration has set limits on business and investment in China, while retaining Trump’s trade sanctions. Enforced are extra penalties on Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Biden is now trying to outdo Xi’s Belt and Road global infrastructure masterplan and Covid vaccine diplomacy. He has also ordered the Pentagon to increase readiness for future military conflict.
Biden’s latest accomplishment is his creation of a united front with US allies, which Trump had antagonized during his term. A joint statement endorsed by all 30 Nato members, plus the EU, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, condemned “malicious” Chinese cyberattacks, such as the recent Microsoft Exchange software hack.
The Duterte administration’s playing footsies with China could prove detrimental to the country’s national security. Aside from the Communist state’s island-grabbing in the West Philippine Sea, suspicions of cyber spying by Chinese companies with large business interests here refuse to die down.
Just recently, Australian Senator James McGrath tagged Dito Telecommunity as a “Trojan Horse” in a speech before the Australian Senate this month. He warned that China was using Communist Party-controlled or owned instrumentalities, such as China Telecom and Dito Telecommunity, as “Trojan Horses” to infiltrate the infrastructure of smaller nations in the Indo-China region.
McGrath emphasized that it was high time to counter the threat posed by an expansionist China. He was particularly concerned about China Telecom’s 40-percent share in Dito: “Many are concerned that Dito Telecommunity is a Trojan horse for spying, including on the Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] and its allies, the United States and Australia… When we consider how many Australian companies house parts of their businesses in the Philippines, such as call centers, this should ring alarm bells with cybersecurity experts.”
He said that an “iron silk curtain was being drawn around our region as China expanded its influence. While China has continued with its wolf warrior diplomacy and, while territorial concerns continue to be raised, including in seas off Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, the Chinese Communist Party government and its military arm have been quietly making strategic acquisitions of another kind.”
The Australian lawmaker expressed fears that the Philippines might be “one of the first dominoes at risk of falling to the nefarious influence of that evil regime in China,” pointing out that Asia-Pacific consulting firm Creator Tech recently released a study into Dito Telecommunity that raised serious concerns about China’s entry into the Philippines telecommunications industry and its control of the national power grid in that country.
Creator Tech’s study revealed that “China Telecom reports to the Central People’s Government in China. This partner of Dito, which describes itself as a ‘main force for building a cyber power,’ is China’s preferred third mobile operator put forward by China’s leaders upon the request of President Duterte. This raises serious questions on cyber security, citizens’ privacy, and national interests. These will have serious repercussions on multiple fronts.”
According to the United States Federal Communications Commission, the Chinese Communist Party Government has “substantial control” over China Telecom. China Telecom describes itself as “a main force for building a cyber power,” and bound by China’s National Intelligence Law article 7 which mandates that “[a]ny organization or citizen shall support and assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law, and keep the secrets of the national intelligence work known to the public.”
McGrath said he was also concerned about proposals in the Philippines under Senate Bill Number 2094 to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of public utilities, including telecommunications and transportation. “Filipino lawmakers are rightly concerned that this could allow China to own infrastructure which is crucial to the Philippines,” he said.
Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros recently renewed calls for the National Security Council to conduct a security audit on Dito Telecommunity, pointing out that the US has already blacklisted Chinese firms, including China Telecom, due to suspicions that they supply or support China’s military and security apparatus.
“Let’s also not forget that under China’s National Intelligence law, Chinese corporations are obliged to support intelligence-gathering efforts,” Hontiveros said, adding that China also has a Chinese Counter-Espionage Law which forbids Chinese companies from refusing to assist their government in surveillance work.
Dito and the Department of Information and Communications Technology have repeatedly brushed off apprehensions that Dito’s facility’s “co-location” deal with the AFP might compromise the military’s cybersecurity.
“We want to assure the public that Dito has a cybersecurity plan, as approved by the National Telecommunications Commission, and that the company will always protect the national and cybersecurity interests of the Philippines,” Dito Telecommunity Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano said.
For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com
1 comment
PINE GAP.