The famous Chinese strategist Sun Tzu is known for his Art of War. His six principles have also been applied extensively when Mao Zedong took over China and how Deng Xiaoping made China into a political power. Sun Tzu had six principles can be learned in the Philippines in winning its conflict against China without ever having to necessarily go to war.
Principle #1 -- Generally in war, the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this…. for to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
The summary is usually said as, "He who defeats a hundred battles is not the most skilled. He who wins a battle without fighting is the most skilled!" The problem is that China has one huge military which is more than enough not just to conquer the Philippines but also all of its neighboring countries. So how can we apply that?
One of the biggest arts of winning against China is diplomatic relations. It would be crazy if both Noynoy Aquino and President Rodrigo R. Duterte would both face China head on. One good example of subduing China is through the Hague or by defending one's sovereignty via international laws between countries. The Philippines should try and win against China through the international
One good example of that is Taiwan which is alternatively called as the Republic of China. In the anti-Chinese government campaign -- we can see how some Filipinos actually back Taiwan up! Taiwan chooses not to have any direct confrontation with China. Instead, they choose to try to be as diplomatic as possible to avoid unnecessary losses.
Principle #2 -- An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.
In modern terms it would be re-stated as, "Avoid your enemy's strength and attack their weaknesses." This is probably the one thing that Antonio F. Trillanes IV and Gary Alejano both ignored when they both launched the Manila Peninsula Siege and Oakwood Mutiny. They should have known better that their rebellion isn't going to last against just them (a small portion of said army) vs. the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The same can be said about the Plaza Miranda Bombing which ended in utter failure.
So how would one think about attacking China's weaknesses? Do you know that China in spite of its open economy is still a dictatorship where a lot of freedom is still repressed excessively? If you were to choose to invest -- would you invest in China or in any democratic country with economic liberalization? A good example is that Singapore, Japan and Malaysia are better places to invest than China for this reason -- they are both countries ran by free trade and by democracy.
The Philippines (right now and hopefully) still has this one strength namely democracy in contrast to China's rather excessive censorship. So how can the Philippines take it to its advantage? Why just settle for the dilemma of investing in a protectionist democracy vs. a free trade ran by a dictatorship when the Philippines can be a democratic free trade country? If the Philippines were both democratic and free trade then just think -- more firms may consider moving from China to the Philippines! The Philippines won't but heads with China yet it will slowly get more investors by removing unreasonable restrictions that will get more investors to help it.
Principle #3 -- Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril
One of the biggest reasons why the Philippines has take a backseat with China is because they don't even bother to know the enemy. Perhaps one of the greatest enemies that Filipinos need to defeat is the inflated Pinoy ego which will not take them anywhere. Gilas failed to do that. Their victories against the Chinese basketball teams didn't make up for their tantrum in Australia. In short, they got their ego to defeat them. Gilas' biggest opponent was itself and not the Australian basketball teams! In reality, how can you defeat the enemy if you're not aware of your own weaknesses at first?
I remembered how Get Real Philippines actually wrote about common, irritating ways that Filipinos do react to criticism. I don't see how the Philippines can defeat China with those kinds of attitudes such as pretending to be manly, bragging about how "great and mighty" Filipinos are and so on if they continue in their path of paranoia and being unable to accept their shortcomings. In fact, two of the many points brought up by said article had to do with treating foreigners who give criticism as "racist" and fellow Filipinos who do likewise as "traitors". If all we do is to say something to uplift their stupidity then that stupidity remains. It's even safe to assume that the moment you stop giving constructive criticism -- it's the very moment that people start to get complacent and fail. While saying something nice is good but only if there's really something nice to say about it.
The reason why the Philippines also kept failing in its current row with China is this -- they don't even bother to know the enemy and how it operates. I don't see how raising up placards, protesting and yelling over social media and the embassies is ever going to defeat China. China isn't even a bit intimidated with them. How did China win? Not by firing missiles but by ignoring those doofuses and their idiocy. They've grown thick skin to ignore insults. By the way, need I tell those doofuses that for one they're heckling and yelling in Tagalog more often than not? Then again, even if they spoke English or even Mandarin -- the Chinese Army knows better not to waste bullets and focus on their task at hand.
As mentioned earlier in the second principle -- China's weakness is that it's a dictatorship and the Philippines' strength (though it can also be a weakness) is that it's a democracy. If the Philippines only starts seeing its weaknesses and resolving them and sees its strength and enhances it -- it can surely defeat China's bullying by learning to avoid conflict when possible. They see that China got rich by opening up its economy then the Philippines too should open up its economy!
Principle #4 -- To rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues
If Sun Tzu were a Filipino -- he would have probably gotten mad over the stupidity of "Filipino time" and call it just simply being late. Rustics here mean crudeness. I was thinking about the problem of Filipinos relying on rustics or crude tactics. You can talk about a certain group of Anonymous commentators that comment on certain blogs that also rely on crude tactics rather than intelligent answers to defend one's views. How can relying on crude tactics ever help the Philippines? None. I don't see how those cussing and swearing done by Filipino activists against China ever defeated China. None. They are just there yelling nonsense and guess what -- China went on to execute the three drug mules on March 30, 2011. They yelled, they protested and guess what -- China didn't mind their nonsense and went on with the rightful execution.
The problem of many Filipinos today is unpreparedness. Expect the unexpected is one of the many things that they fail to do. It's just like they don't even bother to prepare for medical insurance or saving money for a rainy day. They tend to just celebrate and celebrate or make celebrations their priorities rather than saving money for a rainy day. They may even have it in their heads that savings is not good for the economy never mind that savings turned into investment in the form of bank accounts helps the economy go round and round as no savings means no spending! One of the greatest areas where China is beating the Philippines is in disaster preparedness. It's really a problem where you want people to leave the area because of an upcoming disaster such as floods but they refuse to vacate. Remember that explosion than Tianjin? China had all the measurements done. But what if the explosion happened in the Philippines and what if the Valenzuela factory exploded that violently? Sadly, the mainstream Philippine news is more concerned about minor misfortunes that happen to celebrities than news that matter. The misfortune of the Rolando Mendoza incident which led to the death of eight Chinese tourists was a result of unpreparedness. So how can the Philippines even expect to defeat China if they are not prepared?
How can the Philippines practice the value of being well-prepared for a start? It's all about knowing one's rights. Filipinos can start by having the habit of stop relying on crude, underhanded tactics and be prepared. I'm not saying Filipinos should stop having parties. I'm just saying Filipinos need to learn to be prepared such as saving money and not spending it on things they don't need. A practical advice is not to get a car when you can't buy gas or don't buy new appliances if you're not willing to pay higher for your electricity. Also, it also involves with getting a reliable health insurance such as getting AXA Health Insurance for starters. Stop thinking of living only for today and rather choose to be ready for the future.
This also applies for the government that has to be ready for just anything. It reminded me although President Rodrigo R. Duterte wasn't really that ready for the insane onslaught of problems that he would face concerning drugs and corruption (which was wrong) -- he was ready to a certain extent for disaster preparedness such as Typhoon Ompong or Marawi. He was already more than ready to return home when Marawi was under siege by the Maute family of terrorists or when disaster strikes. The whole readiness for Ompong managed to start minimizing disasters. One shouldn't follow the wrong example of "Pwede Na Yan" or mediocrity for disasters such as Leni Loud Robredo's indifference even towards her own hometown of Naga in Camarines Sur. The government itself should really start evaluating the need for more evacuation shelters and emergency measures when disaster strikes. If the Philippines can keep being disaster prepared then Filipinos can show Chinese a thing or two about how they too can improve.
Principle #5 -- Use alliances and strategic control points in the industry to "shape" your opponents and make them conform to your will
It's annoying how the Filipino or Pinoy pridists want to get rid of possible alliances such as the United States (though the Philippines should seriously STOP over-relying on it) all in the name of nationalism. Ironically, such idiots were later found asking for help from the European Union and the International Criminal Court. The whole idea that being Filipino automatically means you'll win is stupid. Worse, some play as if the Philippines is the only victim of China's bullying.
The solution is to use a strategic alliance with other countries that are bullied by the Chinese government. A few examples are South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Vietnam. The Philippines should consider forming or joining a mutual (not parasitic) alliance with said countries because it can't defend against China on its own. If the nations bullied by China will manage to group together not to fight to to peacefully negotiate (and fighting is the last resolve) with China and the international laws -- they can certainly make China back out from their territories.
The country of China is much bigger and more well-equipped than the Philippines so why should it even be scared? Having an alliance with affected countries against the corrupt Chinese government can make a difference. They can group together and form an agreement (perhaps partly economic and the Philippines should seriously drop economic protectionism). You can imagine what if the Philippines starts forming trade alliances with democratic free trade countries. They can trade with each other and increase each others' economy. The Philippines may even consider buying defensive weapons at the same time to make sure it's well-prepared just in case of an invasion.
Principle #6 -- When one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.
This would be a very important keypoint. Sure, the Philippines is a democratic government but the problem is we've got really stupid leaders. Democratic yes but the justice system is dying because agencies meant to protect justice such as the Department of Justice and the Commission of Human Rights have been misused and abused. A good example is like how Etta Rosales and Chito Gascon have misused said organization to be more concerned about certain criminals than the victims of criminals. If there's no proper justice in the Philippines then how can it be ready?
One could consider the strange contrast between China and the Philippines with how it dealt with Health Minister Zheng Xiaoyu and his associates in contrast to Mar Roxas and his associates. Zheng and other people associated with the melamine-tainted food scandal were given their just desserts. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Roxas and Corazon "Stinky" Soliman. Stinky herself allowed the relief distribution to rot. Until now, no one can account to what happened to the billions worth of Yolanda funds given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It's really crookery when a democracy fails to address justice and righteousness. China isn't very lenient with corrupt officials while the Philippines has had a long history of doing so.
As said, democracy itself must only be ruled by benevolence but also by justice and righteousness. If the Philippine government will just stop accepting bribes and be lenient towards those who deserve punishment then think of how much improvement the Philippines will get. More Filipinos will be inspired to be united than divided if its leaders will serve with benevolence, justice and righteousness. That's why I was thinking that shifting to the parliamentary system would be good for the Philippines. It's because the parliamentary system has more safeguards against corruption than the current faulty 1987 Constitution which has only helped magnify the problems of previous constitutions.
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