When Chinese and Indian troops clash along their border in the Himalayas, they engage in hand-to-hand combat, using arms and fists, sometimes pieces of wood with spikes, and inevitably they fall back with bruises and minor injuries, but the Indian troops are able to stand their ground, making the Indian nation proud.

In the West Philippine Sea, “standing ground” means falling back timidly from water cannons and beating a hasty retreat to Puerto Princesa. Disgraceful.

The Chinese are not invincible. Even African rebels can give them a scare.

When Chinese UN peacekeepers were attacked by ragtag guerrillas in South Sudan in 2016, they ran away and hid in their camps. Subsequent bombardment killed two of them – and the outcry back in China was swift and loud, as parents with single kids mourned the senseless loss.

A war game played by a US think tank simulating a war over Taiwan ended with hundreds of thousands of PLA troops taken prisoner in Taiwan. Imagine the effect on the Chinese population.

The PLA faces recruitment problems because Chinese youth would rather work in civilian jobs, with better pay and relatively more freedom.

They flunk physical tests. Battle loneliness.

Restrictions on the use of cellphones, travel, contacts with friends and family – far stricter than inflicted on the population at large under Communism – gnaw at their morale.

The most depressed soldiers are those belonging to the Rocket Force who spend most of their time underground – and those Army conscripts assigned to the frigid regions of the Himalayas to fight the Indians.

Those assigned in the South China Sea are the happiest, even though they are confined in unsteady ships or marooned in the artificial islands for months on end.

The reason? They have Filipinos to kick around – on a regular basis. This is like playing Warcraft with real lives. They are able to break the monotony of their missions by taking perverse pleasure in chasing around our fishermen in dinghies, targeting our Coast Guard vessels with lasers, aiming for the windows and the heads of crewmen, blocking supply ships headed for Ayungin Shoal, ramming the most vulnerable ones, water cannoning the hell out of everybody to disperse them.

It’s like shooting fish in the barrel, the ease with which they deal with our troops and fishermen.

Their motto is to win a war “without firing a shot” and how effectively they are applying it against our hapless Filipino troops and fishermen.

We make them look invincible as fodder to their “Wolf Warriors” because we are the perfect enemy, the perrenial loser, who make them look brave on television, heroic as the sentinels guarding the frontiers against the Mongol barbarians.

As it turned out the Mongols overran the Great Wall without firing a shot, or rather an arrow. We can breach the Nine Dash Line as well if we have the courage and resolve. But we won’t even dare. Except hold press conferences and lodge solemn representations with their embassy. Because we think we are up against Godzilla. Pathetic.

📷 Screenshot from PTVph