Despite its name, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long abandoned socialist construction. Since the death of revolutionary Mao Zedong, market reforms have been in place which opened the economy for private ownership to once again thrive. Since then, it has become aggressive in its pursuit of potential oil deposits and natural gas reserves in the territories of neighboring countries.

This turn towards capitalism, however, is not clear for most. In the issue of the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Senator Kiko Pangilinan urged the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to investigate the “communists” invading our territorial waters. This conflation of “communist” with the incursions of the budding imperialist CCP is not merely a mistake of judgement. It becomes a cold war rhetoric of Red Scare: the propagation of fear mongering over the rise of communism. The United States has used this throughout history to bolster in the peoples of the world the belief that Western Capitalism is the only proper alternative. In a national level, Red Scare also manufactures consent over the state-sanctioned crackdown of communists, as well as those legal activists dubbed as such.

A few days after diplomatic protests rose over tensions in WPS, Rappler’s Maria Ressa interviewed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton where they talked about China’s incursion over our territorial seas.

“I think if you care about the future of the Philippines, about the independence of the Philippines then you need friends and the US, I hope, is the premier friend to stand with you and protect you against further incursions by the Chinese to basically dominate Filipino society,” the Democrat says.

Clearly, the United States is shamelessly taking advantage of the tension in WPS and the anger of the Filipino people towards China to pose themselves as benevolent powers. Clinton’s invocation of “friendship” is also completely ahistorical. The Philippines’ relationship with the United States is nothing resembling friendship, which entails mutual respect. Through history, the US has instead committed imperialist plunder and encroached on our national sovereignty through various neoliberal policies. In fact, the United States is still the primary imperialist power that hinders the movement toward national democracy.

Clearly, the United States is shamelessly taking advantage of the tension in WPS and the anger of the Filipino people towards China to pose themselves as benevolent powers. Clinton’s invocation of “friendship” is also completely ahistorical. The Philippines’ relationship with the United States is nothing resembling friendship, which entails mutual respect.

The Filipino people should look toward history and see that any show of “benevolence” from the US only means the assertion of their interests in our land. The recent tension in the WPS was even used as a pretext to resume the Balikatan Exercises despite its cancellation due to COVID-19. We are still a neocolony of Washington. In our anger towards China, we should not forget that, lest we look toward them for answers. A movement that is critical of China but turns a blind eye on the US will always be counterrevolutionary.

Consequently, the ruling class is also divided among these camps. Recently, the Chinese government also attempts to exercise its soft power over the Filipino people by airing pro-Beijing propaganda on various local media channels. Former Senator Bongbong Marcos and former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo were guests in ChinaTown TV’s Youtube Channel where they talked about the ways in which Sino-Philippine relations can help prop up our economy. Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana continues to cozy up to his masters in Washington. In the next months, as tension continues to arise between these two countries, contradictions between the bureaucrat capitalists will sharpen even further.

A movement that is critical of China but turns a blind eye on the US will always be counterrevolutionary.

Worst of all, President Duterte can’t seem to make up his mind as to where his loyalty lies. He pendulums between the two as he pleases. This just shows how completely lacking of a backbone he is. Through and through, Duterte is nothing but an opportunist. His recent statement of reassurance, that he’ll send gray ships in the contented waters, are all brash and no substance.

Let’s call a spade a spade. What we are seeing now is not a war between two competing ideologies, communism and capitalism. Instead, the Philippines is now a battleground for two imperialist powers fighting for capitalist expansion. 

The true communists in the Philippines are waging a people’s war to end landlessness, feudal exploitation, and poverty in the country. The vibrant movement toward national democracy is also participated by the toiling masses and other marginalized sectors. Throughout history, from the Katipuneros to the Huks, we have been our own liberators. We do not need the benevolence of our exploiters. ##