Китай использует миграцию как инструмент влияния: в Филиппинах выявлены агенты, угрожающие национальной безопасности

THE miserable quality of life of a nation is often said to be the reason why people migrate to more prosperous and developed countries. But human migration can also become something more sinister — destabilizing another country’s governance systems by sending hordes of migrants to flood and exhaust its resources. In July, more than 70,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain’s northern African enclave of Ceuta. Most were desperate people who braved the waves to reach the shoreline of Ceuta, overwhelming local police and social services. Through diplomatic efforts, tens of thousands have voluntarily returned. Spanish authorities have investigated this unprecedented human migration amid allegations that Moroccan authorities have deliberately facilitated the influx of migrants, sparking anti-immigration demonstrations in Spain and a humanitarian crisis vividly captured in social media. This episode illustrates the increasing weaponization of human migration — the use of human movement to worsen the political, social and economic pressures on a host country. This form of warfare has also contaminated the Philippines with the surge of Chinese nationals illegally staying across different provinces in Central Luzon. There is a high concentration of Chinese enrollment in schools in Nueva Ecija. Some Chinese nationals were arrested for operating illegal scamming and phishing hubs. Recently, authorities uncovered Chinese steel-manufacturing firms selling radioactive, contaminated and alleged substandard products. The National Bureau of Investigation and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission seized more than P3 billion worth of radioactive materials and substandard steel products in Pampanga. A sizable volume of these substandard steel products may have already entered the construction market. In Zambales, a Mongolian pilot with military links to China’s People’s Liberation Army was arrested after allegedly carrying-out aerial photography near Iba Airport and the Palauig River. In the Clark Freeport Zone, several Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally supplying medical equipment and unregistered medicine, food and cosmetics. It seems that these activities of Chinese nationals are more on online fraud, unsafe labor practices, unregistered medicines and gray-zone or espionage operations. Yet, the reality is that the presence of these Chinese nationals has been orchestrated and predesigned to destabilize the country’s public order, public safety and even national security. In fact, the Chinese Communist Party is playing a long game to weaken the country’s governance, political and economic systems by exporting its proxies and pseudo-agents. These Chinese nationals are not simply members of transnational organized crime, but operatives allegedly trained and working at the behest of the People’s Liberation Army. Some may have been enticed to relocate in the Philippines for purely profit motives, but most were strategically recruited and resettled here to undermine the country’s public safety and national security. Such Chinese foreign malign influence has infected the country’s businesses, media, academic exchanges, local governments and domestic crimes, especially during the previous administration. Weaponizing human migration is now an instrument of national power by countries directed at their adversaries. History provides valuable lessons. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro once opened his prisons and mental asylums to send his worst criminals and insane citizens to Miami, Florida as part of the Mariel Boatlift. The influx of more than 125,000 Cuban nationals into the US resulted in the cocaine epidemic and high incidences of murders and homicides in the 1970s to 1980s. Similarly, the arrival of Syrian refugees and other Middle Eastern refugees in Europe has instigated deep political polarization. Although many fled conflict-afflicted nations to ensure the safety of their families, some brought their extremist views and religious dogma, which fueled a public backlash and the victories of far-right politicians in EU elections. Finally, Chinese nationals in the Philippines could not have arrived in droves without the help of high officials and politicians. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro has called out government officials who continue to favor China’s position to simply resign from their office. Yet, they won’t since they’ve benefited a lot from Chinese patronage and largesse. It may be high time for our security and intelligence officials to expose these modern-day traitors embedded in our government, businesses, media or even academe. They are a clear and present danger to our national security. Our territorial integrity is imperiled not only through armed invasion, but when a foreign nationality arrives in multitude not to partake in economic opportunities, democratic institutions and better quality of life, but to conceal a nefarious plan to destroy their host nation from within. They are today’s Trojan Horse, that we let into our territory and who would creep at night to slaughter us in our beds. Filipinos must wake up soon before these foreign nationals in the Trojan Horse finally open our borders to a full-scale invasion.