Getsy Tiglao By Getsy Tiglao   Attention, warmongers: Paracel Islands is not Philippine territory and we have never claimed it. This group of islands and reefs is nearer to China and Vietnam, and they are the two countries that have claims to the Paracels, while we are literally on the other side of the sea. We are so far away from Woody Island, the place where China reportedly landed an H-6K bomber aircraft, that it is outrageous how war-hungry local politicians have been portraying the area as if it was just in our neighborhood. It’s over 1,000 kilometers from the Spratly Islands (where we do have a claim). In sharp contrast, China and Vietnam are just 350 and 400 kilometers away from the Paracel Islands, including Woody, which is the largest island in the Paracels. If any country should be mad, it is Vietnam, but I don’t hear Vietnamese officials shrieking like our geographically-challenged politicians about the need to confront China and file protests around the world. This is because Vietnam is smart: it knows it can’t and shouldn’t confront China militarily, not after their disastrous loss four decades ago. They also saw how their purported ally, the United States, failed to assist them in their past military clash with China. On January 19, 1974, South Vietnamese forces engaged Chinese troops in Duncan island in the Paracels in a bid to force them out. At that time, there were already competing and historic claims for the Paracels, which is called Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese. (In Pilipino what’s it called? Nothing, because we have never claimed this far-away island group.) During the 1970s, Vietnam was still divided between US-backed South and the communist North Vietnam. The two sides were united only in 1975 after the US withdrew its troops from the South amid its losses in the “Resistance War Against the Americans” (otherwise known as the Vietnam War.) The battle in Duncan island in 1974 lasted several days with both ground, naval, and air forces in play. But the South Vietnamese were outgunned, outmanned, and outmaneuvered by the Chinese. South Vietnam asked the US Navy Seventh Fleet for help but the Americans refused to help its ally. As a result of Vietnam’s aggression, China gained control over the entire Paracel Island group. Despite South Vietnam’s protest, the United Nations didn’t say anything and practically affirmed China’s victory in the Paracels. Will the US will help the Philippines in any military dispute in the South China Sea? They will not, that’s for sure (and they have already declared they will not interfere in the South China Sea disputes). It’s not in their best interests to help us, especially since we’re not hosting their bases anymore. Besides, China and Vietnam are more important to the US economically than the Philippines. As a result of its loss in the Paracels, Vietnam has quietly but determinedly been building up its own military, especially its navy. It doesn’t talk as much about its differences with China, unlike the Filipino politicians here who are embarrassing themselves by acting and talking like agents of the United States. I don’t know why the anti-China politicians refuse to see that US hegemony or dominance in Asia is over. China is the new superpower in Asia and the emerging multipolarity in the world (with the rise of Russia as well, along with the European Union) is best for everyone. But leave it to the US to feel “threatened” by China. And not surprisingly, their mouthpieces here, still playing the little brown Americans, are ever-ready to serve their former colonial master by trying to stoke anti-Chinese sentiment among Filipinos. Who needs CIA agents here when you have such faux Filipinos? Behind their anti-China statements is their anti-Duterte position. President Rodrigo Duterte has indeed become a threat to the US because of his independent foreign policy. He declared that the country will be a friend to all peace-loving nations but it will not be a servant of the Americans anymore. Politicians promoting the anti-Duterte, anti-China, pro-US line should be ashamed of themselves. They are not serving the country’s interest by their belligerency. What the Philippines needs right now is to develop economically and lift millions of its people out of poverty. We don’t need war and we don’t want one. If you read Chinese history, they have never attacked any foreign country. Instead, they are the ones that have been invaded, and brutally occupied (notably by Japan, with its military aggression in the decade leading up to World War II that led to violent events such as the Nanking Massacre). The US lackeys screaming murder against China should just stop with their attempts at destabilizing the government and ruining our international reputation. China is not out to bomb us. If it wanted to send nukes to Manila it can do so now. It doesn’t need to land a bomber aircraft in Woody island to do so. If they want to continue to promote the US position while criticizing the Philippines’ new independent foreign policy, they should just move to the US and become Americans. Or stay here and revive the Statehood Movement. Or as Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, let the critics go to the disputed islands and start a war. “Go and attack,” he said, dripping with sarcasm. Note to the warmongers: The US Navy’s Higgins and Antietam warships, a destroyer and cruiser, respectively, entered China’s territorial waters without permission. Isn’t this a clear sign of US aggression? Why aren’t you protesting this as well the recent unilateral bombing of Syria? The US has no territorial claims in the South China Sea. So what is it doing here if not lamely trying to assert its weakened dominance in the region? The country’s anti-China politicians failed to get the memo: there is a different superpower in the South China Sea and it’s not the United States.