Pacific Ocean should not be turned into a sea of zero-sum disturbances

When asked how he proposed to balance his country's ties between the United States and China when facing the media in his meeting with the US president at the White House on Tuesday last week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr apparently intended to take advantage of his reply to curry favor with his US host.

But before Marcos finished his I-am-always-on-your-side ingratiation, his US counterpart's abrupt interjection obviously caught the Philippine president off guard.

That was because he had been told at the Pentagon one day earlier that the Philippines should continue to do the dirty work it has been doing in the South China Sea as a provoker of China.