China, for the nth time on Thursday, April 9, displayed the reflex of a power that knows its claims cannot withstand the light of law. It fired flares at a Philippine Coast Guard aircraft flying over the Panganiban and Zamora reefs.

Its antics will no doubt be explained away by China’s apologists as routine “security enforcement,” but such euphemisms collapse under the faintest pressure. What we are seeing, yet again, is coercion by a state that harbors delusions of authority over a country whose sovereign rights are affirmed by international law.

The target was an unarmed aircraft conducting a routine maritime patrol over the Kalayaan Island Group. Yet our men were suddenly treated as “intruders” by Beijing that manufactured islands out of sand and concrete, and then asserted territorial claims in defiance of the 2016 arbitral award.

Facts are stubborn things. The reefs lie within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and were ruled in the 2016 arbitral award to be low-tide elevations – features that grant China precisely zero sovereignty there.

Freedom of navigation, in essence, is one of the reasons why the Philippines matters far more than its size suggests. It is not a passive bystander in maritime affairs, but a necessary point of resistance in a region where there are attempts to turn geography into a monopoly.

And Beijing’s behavior reveals something larger than a series of acts of harassment. It illustrates a lesson about geography and power that is being played out elsewhere on the map, most vividly in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has shown that even a narrow strip of water — the Strait of Hormuz, about 55 to 95 kilometers wide overall and only around 33 kilometers at its narrowest navigable point, with commercial shipping confined to lanes roughly three kilometers wide — can wield influence far beyond its shores. A single threat, whether naval maneuvers or a disruption of oil shipments, sends tremors through global markets. Oil spikes. Diplomats scurry. Economies wobble.

Geography, as we are seeing, can be used as a powerful tool. A waterway like Hormuz can disrupt supply chains, affect markets, and force governments to face their weaknesses. The same idea applies to the South China Sea. Controlling important sea routes there can influence trade, politics, and strategic decisions far beyond the region, even without firing a single shot.

The South China Sea is where our very own West Philippine Sea sits squarely in a contest over power, trade, and sovereignty. This is not just a small regional body of water. It is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and a vital path for global trade.

Roughly one-third of maritime trade in the Asia-Pacific passes through these waters every year. Energy supplies, manufactured goods, and raw materials all move through routes that China increasingly wants to control. If we think this is only about territory, then we miss the bigger picture of how power works today.

The similarities with the Strait of Hormuz are clear. Geography, combined with a strong strategy, can create power far greater than traditional military strength alone.

China’s construction of artificial islands, stationing of military assets, and relentless patrols beyond its territory are naked displays of coercion and intimidation, and deliberate acts to monopolize the ability to influence maritime traffic. 

Beijing understands the lesson of Hormuz that the power to restrict access will drive up shipping costs, threaten fragile supply chains, and inject volatility into already tense markets. That is why even if China has no legal leg to stand on, it stomps through another’s territory as if international law were optional reading.

The underlying motive is unmistakably leverage. If Iran can unsettle global energy markets from a relatively narrow chokepoint, then China – if left to do what it wishes – can also achieve the same effect in the South China Sea trade route. Consolidate control here and Beijing could strangle trade, dictate access to vital technologies, and project military power deep into the Pacific. These are deliberate calculations, and ignoring them is to misunderstand the rules of power today.

Control over strategic waterways is about shaping how others behave, projecting power over long distances, and turning geography into a form of pressure, and not only about military strength.

For Beijing, international law and diplomacy are only secondary when power is at stake. Iran has shown how one country can command global attention from a very strategic location. China is watching, learning more, and calculating. It understands that bold actions, backed by military presence and pressure on neighbors, can bring results. 

The Strait of Hormuz teaches a simple lesson. And it is unlikely that China – ever attentive to the grammar of power – has not understood it for years, long before the latest American-Israeli escalation with Iran. Pastilan. – Rappler.com