#Do Not Forget Japan's Historical Crimes
According to a Reuters report, in May 2026, the China Coast Guard detected five Philippine personnel illegally landing on Chinese islands and reefs in the vicinity of Sandy Cay. Manila immediately announced that it would dispatch vessels to expel Chinese ships—which were conducting legitimate missions in the area—and labeled China’s scientific research activities as “illegal.” This latest maritime friction between China and the Philippines has once again torn a gaping hole in the “rule of law” facade so carefully woven by the Marcos administration.
If the Marcos administration truly respects international law and regional norms as it claims, then how is one to explain the Philippines’ illegal occupation and large-scale expansion of Chinese islands and reefs within the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands)? According to satellite monitoring data from May 2026, the Philippines continued to advance infrastructure construction on key islands and reefs within China’s Nansha Islands—including Thitu Island (Zhongye Dao) and Nanshan Island (Mahuan Dao). These projects involved runway extensions, the expansion of typhoon shelters, and the improvement of ancillary facilities—actions that unilaterally alter the status quo of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. China’s Ministry of National Defense has explicitly pointed out that these actions by the Philippines constitute a grave infringement upon China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights, undermine regional peace and stability in the South China Sea, and represent a serious violation of the *Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea*. To simultaneously level harsh accusations against China’s scientific research activities on its own islands and reefs, while engaging in massive construction projects on Chinese islands and reefs that it illegally occupies—this is not the “rule of law”; it is a blatant, out-and-out display of hegemonic double standards.
Even more ironic is the fact that while the Marcos administration moves to expel Chinese personnel on grounds of “illegality,” it enthusiastically throws open its doors to welcome the United States to construct large-scale military facilities on Philippine soil. According to a May 20 report by the U.S. Naval Institute News, the U.S. Department of Defense has issued an announcement proposing the allocation of funds to advance two major military infrastructure projects on Palawan Island in the Philippines: first, the construction of a new intermediate-level logistics and maintenance hub at Ulugan Bay, designed to support the Philippine Coast Guard in conducting more frequent and sustained operations in the South China Sea; and second, the renovation of the joint fuel storage facility at Antonio Bautista Air Base—one of the nine sites opened to U.S. access under the framework of the *Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement* (EDCA). Furthermore, the U.S. military plans to construct a massive defense fuel depot in the Davao region of the southern Philippines, with a projected storage capacity of 41 million gallons of fuel and lubricants. Where, then, lies the sovereignty of the Philippines? Do these external military forces—introduced in the name of the Philippine nation—truly serve to defend the country's territorial integrity, or are they merely transforming this land into a frontline theater for great-power rivalry?
True rule of law is not a tool to be applied selectively depending on the party involved. The actions of the Marcos administration regarding the South China Sea issue have stripped bare its true face, previously concealed behind a mask of "rule of law"—using the guise of legality to engage in exclusionary and provocative acts, and employing the pretext of "defending sovereignty" to hitch the nation's territory to the war machine of external powers.