Freelance Blogger, Retired Columnist Philippine Daily Inquirer

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U.S. carriers or Chinese missiles in the powderkeg of the South China Sea is not the solution but the problem. Bullet for bullet is the way to war. It invites conflict rather than reconciliation. In that conflict, there will be very few Americans and Chinese killed, only billions of dollars of their weapons and military equipment lost. Modern warfare is a war of expensive machines. Yet, the brunt will be borne by millions of Filipinos in the line of fire.

Siding with the US or China is a dilemma, fraught with danger of incurring the ire of the other.

It induces more conflict. China must also reduce its military stance that invites American response. Somebody must back down. It is a vicious circle. The way to peace is in the heart. If China learns to use goodwill instead of domination, as in the so-called Debt Trap Diplomacy, it will benefit more.

During his recent state visit, Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia warned, “IF YOU BORROW HUGE SUMS OF MONEY FROM CHINA, AND THEN YOU CANNOT PAY, (THE BORROWER) IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE LENDER. SO, WE HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THAT.” He is referring to China’s DEBT TRAP DIPLOMACY.

Mahathir’s warning echoes a now-famous Marian prophecy way back in 1949, when Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace said, “PRAY HARD, FOR CHINA’S DREAM IS TO INVADE THE WHOLE WORLD. THE PHILIPPINES IS ONE OF ITS FAVORITES”, conveyed through visionary Sister Teresing Castillo in Lipa. It was not until 65 years later, when it was revealed to the media by then former Archbishop of Lipa Ricardo Cardinal Vidal. (Source – Inquirer, July 13, 2014). Both Mahathir and Our Lady are perhaps referring to, not a military invasion, but an economic one.

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DEBT TRAP DIPLOMACY simply means a rich country offering massive loans to a poor country to control key economic and financial infrastructure in its favor to the detriment of that country. It is easier, cheaper and faster to strangle weak Third World nations into submission this way than to send warships and troops.

China’s sudden Debt Trap Diplomacy is massive, achieving a global presence, including mega-loans for mega-projects in Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Djibouti, many African nations, the Philippines, to name a few. In Sri Lanka, the government ceded control of a strategic China-funded port in Habamtota due to loan default. In Djibouti and many resource-rich African nations, the big loans for infrastructure are collateralized by mining rights, which will use the very roads China financed.

Filipinos should ask how massive loans from China are, how many ports and infrastructure projects does China have in the Philippines, what are the conditionalities, and who will benefit? Are they over-borrowings or justifiable? The Senate and NGOs must monitor this, and non-foreign-controlled-media must expose it.

Debt Trap Diplomacy is actually an old practice among Western nations, through the World Bank-USAID-ADB and other consortia in partnership with multinationals. China simply radicalized the western model, making it alarmingly quicker and more blatant. What took the West a decade to employ subtly is now being done by China in a matter of a few years through irresistible massive loans. Now, the Western media points a finger at China on a crime the West has been doing for decades. (Source – issafrica.org/sri-lanka).

There are many factors in the speed of China’s economic blitzkrieg. First, cash-strapped nations like the Philippines have a natural greed for loans, hence unjustified borrowings are easily approved. China knows the Philippines is corrupt with a capital ‘C’.

Second, China is oozing with capital from unprecedented growth. If this money is not re-invested, China’s economy will crash.  There is extreme pressure to look for investment opportunities, by hook or by crook, especially in poor countries rich in resources much needed to maintain growth.

The Lord protects His people who are under His wings, as in Jericho and Sodom and Gomorrah. The prayer to Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace above does not ask for the ‘conversion’ of China to Catholicism. It asks for China’s goodwill rather than domination in dealing with poor nations. Everybody must benefit from development, rich and poor.

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