Weiqi: Chess of War!

By Erick San Juan

Taiwan’s air and naval drills in the Bashi Channel – the disputed waters between the Philippines and Taiwan pushed through amidst the growing tension, a week after the incident that killed a Taiwanese fisherman. While former police officer Abner Afuang burns a Taiwanese flag in Lawton, Manila, to protest Taiwan’s moves against the Philippines. I’m sure, lots of Filipinos are praying that the situation will be resolved peacefully as the temperature is really getting hotter with each passing day.

Philippines is being bombarded with endless sanctions coming from the government of Taiwan. We are now already given eleven sanctions in a week’s time. Taiwan’s Premier Jiang Yi-huah even told his fellowmen that the sanctions given will most likely be for the long term.

The mere fact that the show of force of Taiwan’s air and naval drills using war materiel courtesy of Uncle Sam, are supposedly be used against China with its supposed bullying against its neighbors and not towards another ally of the US.

But, according to the State Department spokesman – “the U.S. is concerned by increased tensions between two neighboring democracies and close American allies. It urges both to clarify disagreements and ensure maritime safety.” (Source: Voice of America news 5/16/2013)

Of course, the abovementioned comment of the big brother is expected to be as neutral as possible because both nation states are strategically important to its so-called Asia-Pacific pivot in containing China.

Given this situation, many might ask – is Taiwan over reacting? Are they laying the predicate for China’s move to join them in their provocations for war? Or maybe what a political pundit has been saying that there is a possible existing secret agreement between the elite of China and the US with the globalists to divide the world control among the super elites by staging a war is real.

In one of my interaction with several think tanks’ fora in the past, the self fulfilling prophecy by some of the learned that in the future, big business and supers elites will control nation states before uniting the world for one world governance.

That could possibly explains the strange attitude of the Taiwanese government to the Filipinos that has emboldened their nationals to attack our kababayan OFWs including our MECO officials plus the sudden military exercises near our border is a clear provocation for war.

The Kuomintang Party used to be an anti-Communist organization. It metamorphosed into a pro-Beijing party. Pundits believe that the pro-Beijing leaders of Taiwan and Hong Kong are part of the conspiracy to get our nation without firing a single shot. We’re like a rice cake (bibingka) being cooked from top and bottom.

Or could it be that our Motherland is part of the secret bailout of the US to pay their trillions of dollars debt to China? Just asking.

In the past, you can see Chinatown in several nations in the world. Now it was reported in some websites and in the local papers that in Michigan, that there is a move to build a China City near Detroit, Michigan. The news report stated – ‘A Chinese group known as “Sino-Michigan Properties LLC” has bought up 200 acres of land near the town of Milan, Michigan. Their plan is to construct a “China City” with artificial lakes, a Chinese cultural center and hundreds of housing units for Chinese citizens. Essentially, it would be a little slice of communist China dropped right into the heartland of America. This “China City” would be located about 40 minutes from both Detroit and Toledo, and it would be marketed to Chinese business people that want to start businesses in the United States.’

The analysis made by J Vincent Burr of the Michigan Standard explains the strategy used by China, “the Chinese have been buying real estate in the US for a while now, but this move into infrastructural areas such as power plants, manufacturing facilities, oil and gas fields etc., are concerning to many residents. The long term implications are unclear, but we do know that we’re moving into uncharted territory by allowing an enemy country to gain such a significant foothold within our borders.

To better understand their long term strategy here, it might be worth looking at the Chinese game of Go or weiqi as it is known in China is a game of strategy, in the way that many westerners consider chess to be a game of strategy. The goals are very different though.

In chess, the goal is to attack and capture pieces with the goal of forcing the king to surrender. However, the goal of weiqi is simply to control territory, thereby controlling your opponent. You do not need to waste resources trying to capture your opponent, because if you control their territory, you control your opponent anyway.

The real world advantage of adopting an eastern weiqi strategy versus a western chess strategy is that you are able to exert more control while expending fewer resources. You can simply look to US efforts to exert influence in the Middle East as an example of this. Now ask yourself, how many resources does China is wasting with their approach?

Before you dismiss the analogy of a game to the recent territorial grabs by China here in the US, understand that the game of weiqi has been used for over 2,000 years to train diplomats and business men in China in matters of strategy. Sun Tzu’s Art of War is founded on weiqi principle and it shapes everything they do in business and politics. The territorial grab we’re seeing now is all just part of the game.”

Beware of Don Claro Recto’s warning that in the future our beloved country Philippines could be a province of China. Need I say more?