AT 4 p.m. this fourth Monday of July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will deliver his midterm State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Congress. Many Filipinos will want him to tell them exactly what's right and what's wrong with our country and the world. They will want him to talk about the West Philippine Sea, among other things, where the Philippine and Chinese coast guards have been involved in a number of unpleasant war-cannoning incidents and where the next hot war of the new Cold War could possibly erupt.
What exactly is the general plan for resolving this issue, if any? Do we need to go to war with China to resolve it, or are we going to use this issue to provoke a proxy war between China and the United States? Do we believe we and the US can defeat China in any war and push it out of existence? Or should we find ways to live with China and the other South China Sea claimants, as they have, in fact, managed to live with each other in peace?
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