By the end of this blog
post, I am certain that my blog will be hacked by Anonymous Philippines.
Here’s why: Anonymous
Philippines and its cohorts recently defaced Chinese websites—again! In its
Facebook page, the group claims to have hacked and defaced 195 Chinese
government and civilian websites. The group came to notoriety in 2012 after it
defaced several Philippine government websites following the passage of the
Anti-Cybercrime Law. The group has previously defaced Chinese websites, also in
2012, after the tense standoff between Manila and Beijing at the disputed
Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal in maritime parlance) which resulted to
Manila’s retreat of its frigate and Beijing asserting control over the reef.
While China’s incursion
in these contested waters based on their myopic nine-dash line view is indeed
deplorable, “The Philippines has very few cards to play…” as geopolitical
analyst Robert Kaplan said in his new book, Asia’s
Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific. Kaplan notes
how the Philippine Navy was, for a long time, in a neglected state brought on
by inept and corrupt administrations which made the Philippines “a near failed
state”. It would never stand a chance in countering Chinese intrusion and
successfully asserting sovereignty in the Kalayaan Islands or Panatag Shoal
with such weak capability. Neither can it play the economic card, since China
is the Philippines’ third biggest market for Filipino exports and second
biggest source of imports. Declaring war on China or halting bilateral trade
relations will only obliterate the Philippines’ recent economic gains.
The Philippines used
the UN card by filing a case in the United Nations’ Permanent Court of
Arbitration, urging it compel China to respect the 200-mile Exclusive Economic
Zone of claimant nations—a confusing and complex series of overlapping lines
and territorial possessions. Kaplan sees this move as “the Philippines’ highest
display of weakness”. Out of desperation, the Philippines would appeal not just
to the UN, but also the ASEAN to support its actions in securing a conduct
agreement between claimant nations. This move ultimately failed in the past meetings
of the ASEAN in Cambodia (2012), Brunei (2013), and Myanmar (2014), since after
all, China is one of the region’s biggest trade partners. Chinese investments
in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, in particular are preventing the regional
association from achieving a consensus on a code of conduct in the West
Philippine Sea.
While the Philippines signed
a security deal with staunch ally United States prior to President Barack
Obama’s state visit last April, Obama fell short of categorically expressing
support for the Philippines in its fight against China. The limited amount of
US help through information-sharing and capability enhancement exercises only
proves how indecisive the superpower is in this territorial row because of its
economic interests and obligations with China. It also proves the Philippines
as a pushover, willing to set aside its national interests in favor of
America’s Pivot to Asia—a move which Filipinos cannot solely rely on.
There’s not much the
Philippines can do. And hacking Chinese websites of little or no significance
won’t do anything as well. While Anonymous Philippines had succeeded defacing
the websites, it also proves how novice their hacking activities, which are
limited to denial-of-service attacks and defacement. They are yet to be at par
with state-sponsored cyberespionage units in China, America, Russia, or Israel,
which can steal sensitive commercial and government information, and cripple
important systems and networks crucial to government, military, and economic
operations.
We, Filipinos, think
that defacing Chinese websites or arresting few, unsuspecting Chinese fishermen
are acts of heroism comparable to David vs. Goliath. However, our “ingenious
boisterousness and incendiary statements” [quoting Kaplan], do little to
paralyze China’s creeping invasion of the West Philippine Sea, and only serves
to antagonize the Philippines even more in the eyes of the Chinese government
and public, pushing us closer to the brink of regional war. It’s like slinging
a tiny pebble against a goliath wearing full body armor. War mongering Filipinos
have even called for the extreme—torching Chinese businesses nationwide,
arresting more Chinese fishermen, and even clamping down on illegal Chinese
activities elsewhere in the Philippines. Yes, these will send China the message
that we are mad, that we can mess with them, but we won’t be able to stand by
the image we are trying to portray. We are not capable of shoving off China
militarily nor economically. At least, not this time.
These hackers should
better back off and leave the job to our diplomats and the military. While
defacing Chinese websites is a good exercise in sharpening cyberespionage
skills, it’s better if they leave this territorial dispute out of their
“trainings”. Instead of wasting their skills on passive-aggressive actions,
they should turn their anger into productive endeavors such as helping the
government protect our important government, military, economic, and
transportation facilities from a possible retaliatory cyberattack from China.
In the end, the
Philippines cannot afford to be equally belligerent like China. We could follow
the example of Malaysia, which was described by Kaplan as “lying low”, or
Indonesia, “which has no well-defined foreign policy on the subject”. We could
support Vietnam, described by Kaplan, as “ASEAN’s fighting chance”, or restart
bilateral diplomatic talks with Beijing over the subject, but both actions will
neither prevent China’s continuous encroachment nor promote our national
interests.
Let us tone down the
rhetoric and reserve our criticism and anger on China where it is due. This is
while we hold the line we’ve already used to mark our place in the West
Philippine Sea by improving our military facilities in Philippine-controlled
islands and reefs, spending further on military equipment and capability
enhancement, expanding our efforts to tap the natural resources present in
Philippine-held waters, maintaining good PH-China relations in other matters
unrelated to the WPS dispute (cultural exchanges, trade relations, tourism,
among others), and most importantly, working to continue the Philippines’
stellar economic performance in Asia!
If every Filipino will
work for the success of these suggestions, it will be the ultimate
demonstration of our strength as a nation, by enduring China’s overtures without
antagonizing it at the same time. Our heroism and nationalism is in question
right now, but these do not always lie at the tip of a gun, the tip of the
tongue, or on hackers’ fingertips. Heroism, in these crucial times, lies in
actions that promote our country’s good name and interests.
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