Issue Date
10-2024
Abstract
This paper investigates China’s relations with the Philippines, especially focusing on its use of power in enforcing its claim of territories in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea. As such, this paper wishes to answer the following questions: How is power manifested in China’s actions vis-à-vis the Philippines regarding the territories of which both states set claim to? Being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China wields power and influence in the international community. As such, how does it capitalize on that position in dealing with its weaker neighbors like the Philippines? What are the manifestations of such controlling actions? In this connection, this paper endeavors to test the hypothesis that the more power a state possesses, the greater the possibility for that state to use such power to control weaker states. To explain the relationships of the two states, the Peripheral Realism Theory is used by this paper as its framework, as explained by Argentine political scientist Carlos Escude. Using this theory, China is seen as a State that Commands or Controls while the Philippines is a State that Obeys. This paper found out that power in the Weberian sense, is used by states to control and let other states conform to the rules set by the powerful states. China as a powerful state uses such power to control weak states like the Philippines. This is a qualitative study and uses the deductive approach in explaining how power features in the relationship between China and the Philippines.
Source or Periodical Title
UP Los Baños Journal
Volume
22
Issue
2
Page
97-112
Document Type
Article
College
College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)
Recommended Citation
Lopega, Diosdado B., "Plotting power in the Philippine-China territorial dispute using the peripheral realism lens" (2024). Journal Article. 6298.
https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/journal-articles/6298