Among the 10 ASEAN countries, which country has the most unstable relations with China? I am afraid it must be the Philippines. Today we analyze geographically, why the Philippines?
1. Archipelago platter
The Republic of the Philippines covers an area of 299,700 square kilometers and has more than 7,000 large and small islands, of which 11 major islands, including Luzon, Mindanao and Samar, account for 96% of the country's total area. The Philippines has 18 regions, 81 provinces and 117 cities, with Metro Manila as its capital.
The terrain of the Philippines can be described in one word, and that is "broken".
The largest islands, Luzon and Mindanao, are located at the north and south ends, about 1,500 kilometers away, and it is difficult to communicate with each other.
Second, the terrain is fragmented, the terrain of the Philippine Islands is mainly mountainous, accounting for more than 3/4 of the total area, and there are more than 200 volcanoes in the country, of which 21 are still in the eruption stage. Most of the islands have scattered narrow plains along the coast alone, forming a few larger cities such as Manila, Davao City, and Kalo Okan City.
In general, archipelagic countries have weak core cohesion, especially a large part of the total population of 110 million is concentrated in three large cities that are separated from each other.
Manila – 17.8 million people
Cebu City – 10 million people
Davao City – 23 million people
In this case, if there is no effective connection of railways and highways, the centrifugal force of the islands is very large.
2. Civilized hybridization
Most of the 110 million people in the Philippines are Malays, accounting for more than 85%, and the proportion of the main ethnic group is still relatively high. But these Malays are actually subdivided into Tagalog, Ilogo, Pampanga, Visaya and Bikol. The main reason is that there is no unified country, the ethnic groups are relatively divided, there is little communication and exchange, and the sense of identity is not strong. Ethnic minorities are mainly foreign nationalities, all of whom are Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Spaniards, and Americans who came to the Philippines in different histories. These peoples all came here as conquerors, and all of them have had a profound impact on the history and culture of the Philippines.
There are more than 70 languages in the Philippines, and the Chinese language is Filipino, which is based on Tagalog, but English is the official language.
Amazingly, in such a country with a predominantly Malay population and a predominantly English-speaking language, 85% of the people are Catholic, and the whole country is full of Latin American style. So, their culture is a mixture of 3 cultures. Even the name of the Philippines is derived from Philip II of Spain, so the Philippines lacks a common cultural understanding.
3. Colonial secession
The Philippines has a sense of national origin, which began with the Sultanate of Sulu established in 1390 by the Minangkabau, a Sumatran settler. In 1417, at least three countries in the Sulu archipelago, their kings Dongwang, Xiwang, and Dongwang, came to Beijing to meet Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The king of the Middle East died of illness while passing through Dezhou in Shandong Province on his way back to China and was buried in China.
In 1450, the Arabs established an Islamic regime in the southern Philippines.
In 1521, Magellan passed through the Philippines and was killed by the natives while plundering, and his retinue eventually returned to Spain. Then, in 1565, the Spaniards conquered Cebu Island from Mexico all the way west, and gradually occupied all of the Philippines over the next 300 years. This led to such a cultural difference between the Philippines and Southeast and East Asia, because the Philippines was occupied by the Spanish invasion from the Pacific Ocean to the east.
Perhaps because Magellan was killed, Magellan's entourage had no intention of continuing the expedition and only wanted to return home, so Magellan's ship did not sail to China, thus missing an opportunity for civilization exchange.
It was not until 1898, 300 years later, that the Philippines declared independence at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and established the Republic of the Philippines. Unfortunately, Spain was defeated and signed the Paris Agreement with the United States, and the United States accepted the Philippines as a colony. The Philippine revolt ultimately failed with the massacre of more than 500,000 people by the United States.
Subsequently, during World War II, Japan occupied the Philippines, and MacArthur ran back to the United States after saying the classic phrase "I will definitely come back", leaving 170,000 American troops as prisoners.
After the end of World War II, the Philippines became an American colony again. It was only at the same time as the trend of national independence in the world that it achieved full independence on July 4, 1946.
Since the indigenous people of the Philippines did not have a sense of national consciousness at that time, they had a history of being occupied by many countries, and it was even difficult to form a sense of national honor in this case.
In fact, there are still local separatists and landlord chaebols in the Philippines today. The church and the army influenced the country, the Spanish and local mixed "Medis" mostly did business and affected the economy, and the large plantations of landlords in rural areas made profits by growing cash crops for export, and the poor did not have food to eat.
Fourth, jump left and right
The unique geography of the Philippines has also formed the status quo of its horizontal jump between China and the United States. Because it is not worried about the occupation of its own territory, there is less external pressure, and it needs to rely on external forces to carry out certain interests for itself in the South China Sea. The Philippines is somewhat similar to India in that it is not fully tied to the United States, but is always oriented to certain interests from the eastern powers. The difference is that India has chips to jump left and right, while the Philippines itself is someone else's chips.
Therefore, such an archipelago platter of civilizations and colonial secession of the Philippines is destined to be difficult.
At the individual level, it is difficult for its peasants and homeless poor to influence the country and change their destiny through their own efforts.
At the national level, the Arroyo, Aquino, Marcos, and Estedala families are fragmented, making it difficult to integrate the country and form cohesion.
At the international level, its geographical location cannot be reused by the United States as a vassal like Japan and South Korea, and it cannot escape US control because of its special geographical location.
Therefore, such a country is destined to be difficult.
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