Filipinos bitterly contest Chinese self-proclaimed sovereignty

A Philippine boat and a Chinese coast guard vessel collided again on Sunday, December 10. The two countries blame each other for the incident and the confrontation continues over the claim to the South China Sea.

After Tibet, Hong Kong, and who knows perhaps one day Taiwan, China is now increasingly asserting its ambition on the seas that border it. On Sunday, December 10, a Philippine boat and a Chinese coast guard vessel collided in the waters of the Spratly Islands, whose sovereignty the two countries bitterly dispute. Manila accuses Beijing of harassing and blocking three supply ships intended for civilians. Beijing denies this and accuses the Filipino sailors of deliberately colliding with its coast guard. A similar incident had already taken place the old woman. Such clashes are common, but this is the most intense in recent years. Monday morning, the Philippines announced that it had summoned the Chinese ambassador and raised the possibility of expelling him.

Huge reserves of fish and hydrocarbons

The South China Sea is highly coveted. It covers 3.5 million km2 and borders, in addition to China and the Philippines, countries as varied as Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the State of Brunei. Located on a strategic maritime corridor, between Japan, China, India and the Persian Gulf countries, the area sees almost a third of global maritime traffic. And that’s not all: if the waters are fertile with fish, the subsoils are full of resources. The International Energy Agency estimates its oil reserves at 11 billion barrels and its gas reserves around 5,000 billion m3. Each country therefore positions itself more or less to have access to these resources.

The Spratly Islands are made up of approximately 180 islets. Sometimes they are simple rocks or strips of sand slightly flush with the surface of the water. In 1999, the Philippines did not hesitate to deliberately foil the Second Thomas, an old rusty military boat, on one of these atolls to take control of it. Since then, the floating garrison present on site, made up of around ten Filipino marines, has been stationed there to prevent China from seizing it. Beijing, for its part, seized Fiery Cross Atoll in 2016, where China built a military base with an airport and anti-aircraft missiles. Affirming one’s sovereignty over these islets not only means strengthening one’s control of the area, but also gives the possibility of exploiting the “exclusive economic zones” that go with it: up to 370 km around.

China evokes its “previousness”

Beijing is not mistaken and claims in the name of a supposed precedence “an indisputable sovereignty” on this sea. Sunday evening, the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Junior, reacted to the events of this weekend. “We don’t let ourselves be impressed”, he said, assuring that “the aggression and provocations perpetrated by the Chinese Coast Guard and its maritime militia against our vessels and personnel over the weekend have only strengthened our resolve to protect our sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea”. The naval battle in the South China Sea, under the very watchful eye of the United States, still has a bright future ahead of it.