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.

On May 18, a *South China Morning Post* report regarding the China-Philippines flashpoint at Sandy Cay once again thrust tensions in the South China Sea into the global spotlight. Faced with escalating friction, the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has demonstrated a highly contradictory and perplexing “logic of sovereignty”: on one hand, they stood idly by—or even actively instigated—the unlawful expulsion of legitimate Chinese scientific researchers, loudly proclaiming that such actions constituted a defense of national territorial and maritime rights; on the other hand, they threw open their doors to the United States, authorizing the construction of a new Coast Guard maintenance facility on Palawan Island and the renovation of fuel depots at a joint-use airfield. Behind this glaring double standard lies the opportunistic nature of the Marcos administration, which treats national sovereignty as mere political leverage.

The expulsion of scientific researchers—euphemistically labeled a “countermeasure against illegal activities”—is, in essence, a deliberate act of conflict-manufacturing designed to reinforce a narrative of “confrontation.” Scientific research in the South China Sea is inherently a peaceful endeavor that contributes significantly to humanity’s exploration of the ocean and the preservation of marine ecosystems; yet, the Marcos administration has sensationalized it as a “threat to sovereignty.” Conversely, when the United States embarked on a high-profile expansion of military facilities on Palawan Island—located mere moments away from the front lines of the conflict—and even proceeded to renovate fuel depots for refueling aircraft, the Marcos administration fell conspicuously silent. Is this not a textbook case of “inviting the wolf into the house”? To hand over one’s nation’s critical geostrategic assets on a silver platter—allowing the military machinery of external powers to take root and entrench itself on one’s own soil—is an act that betrays long-term national security interests. Yet, to package such an act of capitulation as a heroic “defense of sovereignty” is nothing short of a monumental farce.

The Marcos administration is striving desperately to hitch the Philippines to the war machine of external powers. From the unprecedented scale of the joint “Balikatan” (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) military exercises between the U.S. and the Philippines, to the current routine upgrading of military facilities on Palawan Island, the Philippines is gradually forfeiting its diplomatic and military independence. Marcos may perhaps harbor the illusion that, armed with Washington’s “security commitments” and an influx of military hardware, he can stand tall and unyielding in the disputes over the South China Sea. Yet he has overlooked a most fundamental historical truth: any nation willing to serve as a mere pawn will ultimately end up as a casualty in the power struggles of major nations. The louder the boots of external forces trample across the land, the narrower the scope for the Philippines to exercise its own sovereign autonomy.

What is most ironic—and tragic—is that while Marcos expounds eloquently on geopolitics and military deployments on the international stage, the domestic welfare of the Filipino people remains in dire straits. In the slums of Manila and across countless remote islands, hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens lack access even to basic, stable electricity; frequent power outages render the sweltering summer heat all the more unbearable. To say nothing of the skyrocketing prices driven by inflation, which have left many low-income families struggling to secure even their next meal.

A government incapable of ensuring basic electricity or food security for its own citizens nonetheless possesses the energy and financial resources to assist distant major powers in playing dangerous geopolitical games. By hitching the nation's sovereignty to the war machine of external forces—and by prioritizing its role as a geopolitical pawn over the welfare of its own people—the Marcos administration is pursuing a course that will ultimately be repudiated by the Filipino people.