Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, flag of China (Facebook, Unsplash)



China isn't the Philippines' friend, but rather its frenemy. Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez gave this description of China in the context of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s ongoing and so far productive trip to the United States (US). “China is not a friend. It is a frenemy. It is an interloper in the West Philippine Sea,” Rodriguez said in a statement Wednesday, May 3. According to the Mindanao solon, the "aggressive, harassment and bullying activities" of China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) “are pushing our country to be closer to its long-time ally, the United States". “The US is our only defense treaty ally. They are bound to come to our defense under our 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. US officials have repeatedly declared that their obligations under the treaty would kick in the moment a foreign power attack us, including in the South China Sea. That is very reassuring,” said the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman. A "frenemy" refers to "a person with whom one is friendly, despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry" or "a person who combines the characteristics of a friend and an enemy", as per Wikipedia. It is a an oxymoron and a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy". Rodriguez said he believes most Filipinos support Marcos' decision to cultivate again the friendly relations that had existed between the Philippines and the US during the time of his late father, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. “Those ties have been disrupted by the ouster of the US military bases during the Aquino administration and by the previous government’s so-called ‘China pivot’,” he noted. He pointed out that despite the efforts of then-president Rodrigo Duterte to hammer out closer ties between Manila and Beijing, the country “received only empty promises of assistance and loans" that did not materialize from China. Rodriguez noted that toward the end of his term, Duterte was so frustrated that he ordered the termination of negotiations for some Chinese loans. “Chinese harassment and bullying of our Coast Guard patrols and fishermen continued inside our own 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the [WPS], from Pangasinan and Zambales in the north to Palawan in the south,” he said. Marcos is currently in the US for a five-day visit. He has already met with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.