well, I think that is a game we have to play, be in the philippines or cambodia or elsehwere in the region. we have litle choice. our challenge is how to win allies and friends despite our lack of power and money if compared to china?
answer: we need to be smarter.
look at our neighbor laos. for centuries, as a landlocked and weak nation, she has to chose between vietnam, china and thailand. which country to ally with? and surprisingly, laos always choses vietnam.
why? because the people of laos know, at the end of the day, vietnam will always prevail. the laotians place their total trust on vietnam. the french, americans, chinese and siamese lost the wars against vietnam because they failed to win the battle over laos.
the pinoys should place trust on vietnam.