By Artchil B. Fernandez
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a tragic figure in history. His much-reviled policy of appeasement was largely blamed as one of the reasons World War II broke out.
German dictator Adolf Hitler had dark designs to start a war but needed cover and opportunity to turn into reality his evil plan. Chamberlain provided Hitler both and he inadvertently became the Fuhrer’s unwitting tool.
Hitler made his move when German troops entered Rhineland, a German territory that became a buffer zone between France and Germany. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles and the 1925 Locarno treaties declared Rhineland a demilitarized zone banning German troops in the territory. In March 1936, Hitler denounced the treaties and German troops re-occupied Rhineland. British and French governments fearing war did not enforce the treaties and looked the other way hoping their inaction was enough to satisfy Hitler.
The appeasement had the opposite effect. It only stoked Hitler’s appetite for conquest. Two years later, Hitler’s Anschluss annexed Austria closely followed by his seizure of Czechoslovakia’s Sudentenland. Britain and France once again did nothing.
Chamberlain, the architect of the policy of appeasement, conceded to Hitler’s demand naively declaring he brought “peace for our time” by sacrificing Czechoslovakia. He was terribly wrong. When German tanks rolled into Poland in 1939 which officially started World War II, it was only then that Chamberlain realized the foolishness of appeasement. But it was too late and another global war was upon the world.
History would have been different had Britain, France and the rest of the world immediately stopped Hitler in his tracks with his first action in Rhineland. “The 48 hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of my life. If the French had opposed us then we would have had to withdraw. Our forces were not strong enough to even put up with moderate resistance,” Hitler confessed in his diary.
But Chamberlain’s appeasement policy prevented bold action against Hitler on the erroneous premise that satisfying Hitler would prevent him from going further. Alas, appeasement only fueled Germany’s aggression by bolstering German confidence since it got away with breaking international agreements.
There is an uncanny resemblance between Germany’s aggressive moves on the eve of the Second World War and China’s current intrusive action in the West Philippine Sea. Chamberlain is also resurrected in the person of Du30.
China claimed the entire West Philippine Sea, slicing through the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of some ASEAN countries – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. Among these countries, the Philippines stands to lose a huge chunk of its EEZ if China’s plan succeeds.
Alongside the Covid-19 pandemic, Filipinos are also facing another serious threat from China whose naval militias are now parking at Julian Felipe Reef. The latest incursion of China into Philippine territory is the subject of Du30’s last two weekly night talks. Instead of standing for the interest of the Philippines as any patriotic Filipino must do, Du30 displayed defeatism by echoing Chamberlain’s appeasement policy.
Du30 is taking cover under Chamberlain’s appeasement policy to justify his cowardice and traitorous act of selling Philippine territory to China. As ASEAN’s Chamberlain, Du30 is insisting that appeasing China is the only way to avoid war. He also peddles the lie and wrong notion (promoted by China) that war is the only way to resolve the conflict in the area. Since China is militarily superior to the Philippines, the country will surely lose in an armed conflict according to Du30’s flawed thinking.
But war is not the only path to resolve the territorial dispute and in fact, war is not the way to solve it. International law and a united global front against China’s aggression will deter the incarnate of Nazi Germany from taking the territories of other countries. Like Hitler’s Germany, appeasing China will only embolden and encourage the appetite of that expansionist power and bully to grab more territories from its neighbors. Only by insisting on rules-based global order will stop China’s imperial design.
It is almost six years since Du30 implemented his appeasement policy but instead of stopping, China only intensified its activities in the West Philippine Sea. China’s coast guard vessels are now fixtures in Scarborough Shoal, artificial islands were built on West Philippine Sea and now China is near Palawan. These happened under Du30’s watch.
Du30 had been bending the knee to China since he assumed the presidency and China responded to his meekness with more aggression. Calling China a friend, acknowledging a debt of gratitude and recognizing the bully a benefactor as the Asean Chamberlain keeps on harping is not working. It only made Du30 a pathetic coward and his masters in Beijing are more likely laughing at his naivete if not stupidity. Hitler, in his diary, was also heaping scorn on Chamberlain, deriding his cluelessness.
It is very clear appeasement is a failed policy, in the past and at present. It did not stop Nazi Germany from grabbing its neighbors’ territory and neither it is effective in preventing China from stealing Philippine territory.
By appeasing China and pimping for its aggression in the West Philippine Sea, Du30 is not only the Asean Chamberlain he is also the most unFilipino and the most anti-Filipino ever to occupy Malacañang. His deceit and treachery is unparalleled in the history of this country. A present-day Makapili, Du30 shamelessly praises China on national television, a proud lackey of a foreign power. This cheap and defective Chamberlain clone is a certified Manchurian candidate.
