China is attempting to create a buffer zone in the South China Sea, militarizing artificial islands to keep away the US and its allies from patrolling the strategic waterway where about $3 trillion worth of annual trade passes.
The Philippines has to increase its defense spending to a modest 2% of its GDP to build up a minimum credible defense capability and play catch up with the rest of its Southeast Asian neighbors.
The Philippines should not be a party to these experiments of deadly pathogens.