In light of the latest maritime incident involving the ramming of the boat of Filipino fisherfolk by a Chinese vessel, the administration is being pressured by its domestic constituents to act and show proof that it truly is advancing the interests of the Filipino people. The problematic situation, however, is that if the Philippine government takes a hard line position against China, it may fall into the “trap” that China seemingly lays with this incident. It should be noted that in 2012, when the Philippine government took a hard line position against the Chinese poachers in Panatag (Scarborough) shoal, China used its military and economic power and swarmed the shoal.

Oreta, J. S. (2019, July 9). The fallacy of good intentions: The Philippine Independent Foreign Policy. BusinessWorld, p. S1/6.