Most of the world won't buy what Manila's trying to sell

The Philippines appears intent on repeating a familiar pattern.

Hours after Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro vowed to "work out proper solutions via dialogue" to the Philippines' maritime dispute with China in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila, two Philippine government vessels were playing bumper cars with China Coast Guard ships near China's Huangyan Island.

The Philippines' Western supporters were quick to weigh in. Shortly after Manila's provocations near China's Ren'ai Reef on Monday, the US State Department got in on the act, issuing a statement accusing China of "bullying the weak". Australia's top diplomat also chimed in from the sidelines.

And how could such a well-choreographed act proceed without Western media as its indispensable stagehands? The most telling example of such theatrics came in March 2024, when a Philippine vessel — conveniently packed with journalists, because nothing screams "accidental encounter" quite like a press entourage — deliberately rammed a Chinese ship.

CNN promptly rolled out footage of the "confrontation", casting the Philippines as a plucky David squaring off against Goliath.

Every new provocation serves the same purpose: it helps the Philippines maintain an "unlawful" presence while obscuring who is fanning the frictions. And when China responds lawfully, the cries of "horror" from some Western media outlets are delivered with panache. Manila views this as a diplomatic win. One by which it can grab territory or gain "sympathy".

Wang told Lazaro that China has never constituted a security threat to the Philippines, nor has it ever invaded or colonized the country throughout history.

He warned that allowing external forces to meddle in regional affairs and deliberately hyping up maritime disputes will only reduce the Philippines to a pawn manipulated by others, adding that any attempt at provocation backed by external countries will ultimately leave the Philippines bearing the bitter consequences of its own making.

But Manila seems to like being a pawn. The factions staging such extravaganzas deliberately sabotage bilateral dialogue the moment it's scheduled. They're not serving the Philippine people; they are advancing personal interests taking instructions from elsewhere, while the Philippines' development stalls.

Despite not being parties to the South China Sea disputes, some Western countries play their roles impeccably, immediately jumping out to point accusing fingers at China.

While the Philippines stages these antics, the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — with their own stakes in regional stability — see what's happening. They know which country is actually trying to maintain regional stability and which gang is trying to fish in troubled waters.

That's why the timing of this latest provocation is particularly revealing. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting is underway in Manila. The Philippines is the ASEAN chair. This is supposed to be the moment for responsibility, for dialogue, for actually advancing a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Right now, the Philippines is locked in a script written by others — a script that never ends well for the actor who reads it too earnestly. Perhaps it's time for Manila to take a step back and actually do what the ASEAN chair is supposed to do: promote dialogue and ease tensions.

The South China Sea is a shared home for regional countries. China and other ASEAN members should jointly foster a new narrative of peace, stability, cooperation and friendship in the waters, and keep the initiative on the South China Sea issue firmly in the hands of regional countries.