International China's On-going Agression Drives The Philippines Closer To The U.S

[Arkain2K]

Dozens of Chinese ships chase Philippine vessels as US renews warning it will defend its treaty ally
BY JIM GOMEZ AND JOEAL CALUPITAN | November 11, 2023



As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea.

At the height of Friday’s four-hour faceoff in the high seas, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces on a marooned, rusting warship that serves as the country’s fragile territorial outpost at Second Thomas Shoal.

China has steadfastly stood by its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway, clashing with its smaller neighbors and drawing in the United States, Manila’s treaty ally and China’s main rival in the Asia-Pacific region. Washington and its allies have deployed navy ships and fighter aircraft to promote freedom of navigation and overflight, build up deterrence and reassure allies like the Philippines.

There are fears that the recurring confrontations at Second Thomas Shoal, which lies within the U.N.-sanctioned Philippine exclusive economic zone but is claimed by China and surrounded by its flotilla, could ignite an armed conflict pitting the U.S. against China. Philippine officials said Saturday they would never take any step that could ignite a larger conflict but would not be deterred in defending the country’s sovereign rights in the South China Sea.

Despite the Chinese blockades and coercive maneuvers, the Philippine contingent managed to deliver supplies to the handful of Filipino marines aboard the BRP Sierra Madre and left without incident. The slightly listing Philippine warship, donated by the U.S., has been crumbling with age but is still actively commissioned, meaning an armed attack would be considered by Manila as an act of war.

Two Associated Press journalists and several other members of the media who were invited on board three Philippine coast guard ships securing two supply boats witnessed the dangerous cat-and-mouse maneuvers in rough waves. It’s part of a shame campaign Philippine officials said they would press on to expose China’s growing aggression in one of the world’s most important trade routes.

Filipino forces would continue to adhere to the rule of law and would not be provoked by China’s strong-arm tactics, Philippine coast guard Commodore Tarriela said.

At least 38 Chinese ships were spotted in Second Thomas Shoal’s vicinity on Friday, including a Chinese navy fast assault craft and a hospital ship, the Philippine coast guard said.

One of the Philippine coast guard ships, the BRP Cabra, was surrounded five times by the Chinese coast guard and other ships, but managed each time to move away until it was hemmed in near the shoal.

“We grow more confident each time we steer past through the Chinese blockades,” the Cabra’s commander, Emmanuel Dangate, told AP. “We feel all the more the need by all to follow the international regulations to prevent collisions.”

The campaign to expose China’s aggression at sea would continue, Tarriela said in a news conference, where photographs, video and drone shots of Friday’s confrontations were shown.

“I believe that our effort in transparency initiative has been very successful in rallying support from the international community to condemn the illegal actions of China and to make the Filipino people aware of what’s happening,” Tarriela said.

Washington reacted to Friday’s confrontation by repeating that it stands with its oldest ally in Asia “in the face of the People’s Republic of China’s repeated harassment in the South China Sea.”

The U.S. State Department renewed a warning that Washington is obligated to defend the Philippines under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if Filipino forces, public vessels or aircraft, including those of its coast guard ”face an armed attack “anywhere in the South China Sea.”

“The PRC’s actions are inconsistent with international law and follow a pattern of dangerous operational behavior in the South China Sea,” the State Department said in a statement. It cited a 2016 international arbitration decision that invalidated China’s expansive claims to the waterway on historic grounds, including Second Thomas Shoal.

China refused to participate in the arbitration, which was brought up by the Philippines in 2013, after Chinese ships took control and surrounded another disputed area, Scarborough Shoal. Beijing dismissed the 2016 ruling as a sham and continues to defy it.

A Philippine government task force said Friday that vessels belonging to China’s coast guard and its paramilitary maritime militia “recklessly harassed, blocked and executed dangerous maneuvers in another attempt to illegally impede or obstruct a routine resupply and rotation mission.”

China’s coast guard said it “followed the Philippines ships in accordance with the law, taking necessary control measures, and made temporary special arrangements for the Philippines side to transport food and other daily necessities,” spokesperson Gan Yu said in a statement.

It urged the Philippines to stop actions that infringe upon China’s rights and said China would continue to uphold its national sovereignty.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation bloc that includes the Philippines, have stepped up efforts to hasten negotiations for a nonaggression pact called a code of conduct that aims to prevent war from breaking out in the South China Sea. But the skirmishes at Second Thomas Shoal would likely continue on a regular basis with Chinese ships, including its navy, surrounding the shoal and the Philippines vowing to defend it at all cost and keep its forces there.

Last month, a Chinese coast guard ship and another vessel blocked then collided with a Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat near the shoal. China accused the Philippine vessels of trespassing in what it said were Chinese waters.

https://apnews.com/article/south-ch...thomas-shoal-f702d9b9b84f9019083fb4d530fdf970

 

[Belaya Smert]

Yeah let’s get a third war going we can finance ffs.

 

[S Class]

The ultimate crybully. Fuck China.

 

[Arkain2K]

Philippines jumps off the Belt and Road bandwagon
By: Sneha Swaminathan | Updated: Nov 05, 2023



The Philippines has delivered a significant blow to China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by opting to exit the trillion-dollar infrastructure project of President Xi Jinping.

The announcement followed a recent collision between a Philippines boat and a Chinese coastguard vessel in the South China Sea. Furthermore, China's military alleged that a Philippines military ship entered waters near Scarborough Shoal without permission.

The Philippines' decision comes on the heels of the grand Belt and Road Initiative Summit in Beijing where President Xi welcomed leaders and delegates from over 140 nations to commemorate the project's decade-long journey.

The Philippines' Department of Transportation has announced the "full termination" of several major infrastructure projects previously partnered with China.

Instead, the Philippines is turning to Japanese and other Western counterparts, signalling the uphill battle that many of China's key investment initiatives face in the country due to a mix of economic and political factors.

This decision also accentuates the ongoing friction between the Philippines and China regarding their territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

"Manila has to contend with serious public anger against China's claims over and capture of Philippines territory in the South China Sea. Its run-ins against Filipino vessels in these waters indicate a complete lack of respect for international law as well as of Filipino interests," Dr Jabin Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, told WION.

"China is unambiguously playing the bully, attempting to coerce the Philippines into accepting Chinese power in the South China Sea. Under the circumstances, Manila, took a clear and decisive step of its own - one that is calculated to show up China's foreign policy in general and its pet project of the BRI, in particular," notes Dr Jacob.

Jaime Batista, the Philippine Transportation Secretary, announced the dropping of $4 billion in Chinese infrastructure projects, which involved two railway projects in Luzon and Mindanao.

"We have three projects that won't be funded by the Chinese government anymore. We can't wait forever, and it seems like China isn't that interested anymore," Batista said during a forum organised by European investors in Manila.

https://www.wionews.com/world/first...dwagon-is-xi-jinpings-bri-exploitative-655395

 

[Spounman]

The ultimate crybully. Fuck China.

If we ever go to war with China, we're going to have lots of allies all around China. They sure are good at pissing their neighbors off.

 

[Arkain2K]

The ultimate crybully. Fuck China.

If we ever go to war with China, we're going to have lots of allies all around China. They sure are good at pissing their neighbors off.

Beijing loves to play the victim card, but they just couldn't understand that nobody wants to be friend with the local bully who kept stealing from their neighbors.

The moment they decide to claim *everything* in the South China Sea as their own, including islands well within other countries' exclusive economic zone, everyone in Southeast Asia wanted to be an ally to the U.S instead.

 

[S Class]

Beijing loves to play the victim card, but they just couldn't understand that nobody wants to be friend with the local bully who kept stealing from their neighbors.

The moment they decide to claim *everything* in the South China Sea as their own, including islands well within other countries' exclusive economic zone, everyone in Southeast Asia wanted to be an ally to the U.S instead.

They can take their 9 dash line and shove it up their ass.

 

[Rholk]

Shouldn't be too hard to get together a coalition against China

 

[Bia]

China is arsehole, don't trust them

 

[Brigfa2]

Yeah let’s get a third war going we can finance ffs.

Everyone warns everyone, you don't know shit about politics and international relationships. Of course the US is gonna warn them.
China and N. Korea always threats the US but they are doing nothing. That's how it works.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

This world war is really starting to heat up.

 

[Belaya Smert]

This world war is really starting to heat up.

 

[Arkain2K]

How an impasse in the South China Sea drove the Philippines closer to the US ​

By Zaheena Rasheed | 30 Dec 2023

On February 2, 1995, just over two years after the last American soldiers had left the Philippines, a Filipino navy patrol boat found a newly built structure on stilts flying a Chinese flag on a submerged reef, some 240 kilometres (149 miles) off the Philippine island of Palawan.

The sailors had gone to Mischief Reef in the South China Sea after a Filipino fisherman reported being taken captive by Chinese soldiers in the area. Beijing, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, dismissed the allegations and insisted that the octagonal structure on the reef – which was equipped with a satellite dish for communications with the Chinese mainland – was merely a shelter for its fishermen.

Today, Mischief Reef is a fully fledged Chinese military outpost, with a 3,000-metre airfield runway, radar systems and warehouses probably housing surface-to-air missile systems on land reclaimed from the sea.

Chinese navy and coastguard vessels patrol the area, harassing Filipino troops, including by using military-grade lasers and water cannon, and blocking Filipino fishermen from the rich fishing grounds in the waterway by ramming their boats and seizing their catches.

The reef, which is submerged at high tide and part of the Spratly Islands, is nearly 1,000km (620 miles) from China’s Hainan Island.

Beijing has now fully militarised a total of three islands in the Spratlys, according to officials in the United States, and maintains seven military outposts in the area.

Across the top military brass in the Philippines, the view is that China would not have taken over Mischief Reef had US forces stayed in the country.

“If in 1992, the US didn’t leave, I don’t think that we will be losing Mischief Reef,” said Jay Tarriela, spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard. “The Philippine government – during the time that we have enjoyed the security umbrella of the United States – have tremendously strengthened the military deterrence of the Philippine government. So supposing that those bases are still here, I am 100 percent sure that none of all this maritime features will be taken away from us.”

Now, three decades after the Philippines ended a vast US military presence that began with the capture of the archipelago from Spain in 1898, American troops are again returning.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who took office last year, has pivoted to Washington, in a reversal of his predecessor’s policy, expanding the US’s military footprint in the country under their Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 and a pact called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). He has now authorised the Pentagon to pre-position equipment and rotate forces through a total of nine sites in the Philippines. Some are in Palawan, near the disputed Spratlys, and some face north towards Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory.

Marcos has also extracted a promise from US President Joe Biden that American troops will come to the Philippines’ defence in the event of an attack on the Southeast Asian nation’s armed forces in the South China Sea, something Washington had been reluctant to commit to earlier.

“It is only natural for the Philippines to look to its sole treaty partner in the world to strengthen and to redefine the relationship that we have and the roles that we play in the face of those rising tensions that we see now around the South China, Asia Pacific and Indo-Pacific region,” Marcos told Biden during a summit in Washington, DC, in May.

While Marcos Jr’s decisions have largely been driven by the South China Sea territorial dispute, he has also shared concerns about the impact of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying that “it’s very hard to imagine a scenario where the Philippines will not somehow get involved”.

Beijing, however, has hit back at the expansion of EDCA, saying the move will “seriously harm Philippine national interests and endanger regional peace and stability”. The decision would “drag the Philippines into the abyss of geopolitical strife”, it claimed. China’s ambassador to Manila, Huang Xilian, also advised the Philippines in April to “unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait”.

Analysts say the Philippines is a prime example of how China’s actions have driven its neighbours closer to Washington, which has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Asia Pacific to deter China. These include allies such as Japan, which has protested over Chinese incursions near the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, and non-aligned India, which fought a bloody border battle with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in the Himalayas in 2020.

These territorial disputes “alienate other regional countries with whom [China] often has very close economic ties” said Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank. “And so in some ways it hurts China’s image in the region and its soft power and perhaps in some ways its influence,” he said.

How an impasse in the South China Sea drove the Philippines closer to US

American troops are returning to the Philippines, in a policy that some fear may invite conflict with China.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Ruthless Ryan]

XI just said in his new years speech that Taiwan would surely be reunited with China, holy fack is he telling them an invasion was coming?

 

[PEB]

XI just said in his new years speech that Taiwan would surely be reunited with China, holy fack is he telling them an invasion was coming?

Interesting he did promise the US at their September meeting no action would be taken in the near future. So read in it what you want? Russias clunk Donald Trump taking offense anything possible.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Suspicious of China, Philippines Expands US Military Presence

SANTA ANA, PHILIPPINES —
Naval Base Camilo Osias, a small military facility on the northern tip of the Philippines’ largest island, does not look important.

On a quiet afternoon in mid-December, just a handful of Philippine navy personnel mingle at its tiny barracks and mostly empty airplane hangar.

Nearby, a rusted anti-aircraft gun, lying partially assembled on a concrete pedestal near a basketball court, is the only visible weapon.

Despite appearances, this site is evidence of an evolving U.S.-Philippine relationship expected to have substantial impact on Asian security.

With U.S. funding, Naval Base Camilo Osias is expected to soon get a rehabilitated airstrip, a new pier and more facilities to accommodate soldiers.

The U.S. military can also rotate troops and place weapons at this strategic location, just 400 kilometers from Taiwan.

It isn't the only site where this is happening.

The U.S. military recently gained access to two other locations near Taiwan, and one facing the disputed South China Sea, under an expansion of a bilateral deal known as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA.

Nine sites across the Philippines are now covered under the defense pact, originally signed in 2014.

The agreement does not establish permanent U.S. bases, but it does give the U.S. military a bigger presence that could be important if a conflict were to break out in nearby Taiwan or the South China Sea.

Complicated history

EDCA is the latest development in a long and complicated relationship between the United States and the Philippines.

The Philippines was ruled as a U.S. territory from 1898 to 1946, before gaining independence. In 1951, the two countries agreed to a mutual defense treaty, establishing the oldest U.S. defense treaty alliance in Asia.

The United States retained a permanent military presence until the early 1990s, when the last U.S. base was removed amid domestic opposition and concerns about Philippine sovereignty.

Since then, the Philippines has gradually welcomed back visiting U.S. forces under a pair of bilateral agreements, including EDCA.

This trend intensified under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has aligned his country more closely with the United States since taking office in 2022.

Closer ties with the US

This year, U.S. and Philippine forces held their biggest combined military exercise ever and resumed joint patrols in the South China Sea after a long hiatus. The two sides also convened a series of high-level diplomatic and security meetings.

“We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in U.S.-Philippine relations over the course of the last year and a half,” a U.S. diplomat in Manila told VOA. However, the diplomat added, “even if we hadn’t redoubled our efforts and gone all out on the U.S. part, we’d probably still be doing pretty well, because the Chinese have done almost everything wrong.”

In recent months, China has escalated its harassment of Philippine vessels, using water cannons and military-grade lasers, in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Philippine officials are also worried about the danger of conflict in Taiwan, especially as China ramps up its threats against the self-ruled island.

Earlier this year, China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, drew condemnation when he appeared to issue a veiled threat against the tens of thousands of overseas Philippine workers in Taiwan.

While criticizing the EDCA agreement, Huang said Manila should “unequivocally oppose” Taiwanese independence if it genuinely cared about the fate of the 150,000 Filipinos working there.

Philippine priorities

Philippine officials have said the revamped EDCA sites, especially those in the north, could be useful for evacuating Filipinos from Taiwan in the event of a war.

The bases could also help facilitate U.S. humanitarian responses to strong typhoons, which often pummel the northern Philippines.

The main priority, though, is military modernization, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the Philippines National Security Council, told VOA in an interview in his office in mid-December.

“We have improved our military ... but it’s never enough. It’s never enough because of the territorial issues we have with China,” Malaya said.

Malaya said the presence of U.S. troops could serve as a deterrent against China’s expansionist goals, especially as Beijing seeks to extend its influence past the so-called first island chain of Pacific archipelagos.

“And that first island chain [includes] both Taiwan and the Philippines, no? So with American troops rotating in the Philippines, it becomes a problem for them,” he said.

As evidence, Malaya cited China’s 1995 seizure of the contested Mischief Reef, which occurred shortly after the U.S. military removed its last permanent base from the Philippines.

“When that happened, the Chinese saw an opportunity and took over,” later turning the tiny ring-shaped island into a “heavily militarized forward operating base,” he said.

Local worries

China has responded angrily to the U.S.-Philippines basing agreement, saying the move jeopardizes regional peace and stability.

That worries Manuel Mamba, the governor of Cagayan Province, where two EDCA sites are located.

“Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked us, basically because U.S. forces were here. And I think that will happen again if we have foreign forces within our midst,” Mamba told VOA.

Marcos has insisted the EDCA sites will not be used to target any other country and Philippine officials have repeatedly stressed that the agreement allows Manila to veto any use of EDCA that is not in the country’s national interest.

Those assurances are worth little to Mamba, though, who said Marcos or any other future Philippine president may not be able to resist pressure from a much more powerful United States, especially during a crisis.

“It may not be his call when the time comes,” Mamba said. “Sometimes you cannot say no.”

Asked about such concerns, MaryKay Carlson, the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, told VOA that the United States respects the Philippines' territorial integrity.

She noted Marcos’ public vow that the Philippines will not “abandon even one square inch of territory” to a foreign power.

“We have heard President Marcos loud and clear,” Carlson said. “It’s actually the People’s Republic of China that has established militarized bases within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/suspicious-of-china-philippines-expands-us-military-presence-/7417906.html


- Pretty sad state of affair. Back in the day, we solved our diferences in Mortal Kombat, mano a mano, like warriors!

 

[Fluffernutter]

I though the ties between the US and the Philippines were pretty close already

 

[erhnamdjinn]

I though the ties between the US and the Philippines were pretty close already

Kinda fell apart during the time of duterte with the way he fellatioed China