The Philippines air-dropped food and water to soldiers posted on a grounded transport ship on a disputed South China Sea shoal after China blocked two supply ships from reaching the troops, a senior navy official said on Wednesday.
Chinese ships patrolling waters around Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as the Renai reef, on Sunday ordered the Philippine ships carrying construction materials to leave the area.
Beijing claims Manila is trying to start construction on the disputed reef after it ran aground an old transport ship in 1999 to mark its territory and stationed marines on the ship. Manila claims the shoal is part of the Philippine’s continental shelf.
“We only intend to improve the conditions there, we have no plans to expand or build permanent structures on the shoal,” said a Philippine Navy official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press. “On Monday, we sent a navy Islander plane to drop food and water, but it will only last a few days. We really have to send back the civilian boats. Since last year, we’ve been resupplying our troops using civilian ships to avoid confrontation and this was the first time China blocked them.”
On Tuesday, Manila summoned the second-highest Chinese embassy official to hand over a strongly worded protest, calling the blockade “a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said Beijing had called in Philippine diplomats to lodge a protest in response.
“The Philippines’ motive in trying to illegally occupy Renai reef and create incidents in the South China Sea is abundantly clear. China calls on the Philippines to stop all its provocative actions,” Qin said.
The Second Thomas Shoal, a strategic gateway to Reed Bank, believed to be rich in oil and natural gas, is one of several possible maritime flashpoints that could prompt the US to intervene in defense of Asian allies troubled by increasingly assertive Chinese maritime claims.
On Wednesday, Washington said it was troubled by China’s blockage of the Philippine ships, calling it “a provocative move that raises tensions.”
“Pending resolution of competing claims in the South China Sea, there should be no interference with the efforts of claimants to maintain the status quo,” US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
She added that “freedom of navigation” in the area “must be maintained.”
China has objected to efforts by Manila to challenge its territorial claims under the Law of the Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, Netherlands.
Ernest Bower of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said new pressure on Manila could be due to China’s perception that the US has shown weakness in dealing with crises in Syria and Ukraine, and would be similarly lacking in resolve in Asia — in spite of its declared policy “pivot” to the region.
It also reflected Chinese concerns about negotiations expected to bring about broader access for US troops to the Philippines, he said.
“The Chinese see a very unhappy situation in the Philippines — that one of their smaller neighbors is taking them to court and working with the Americans for expanded military access,” Bower said. “It does not fit with the Chinese script of where they want to be in terms of the South China Sea and their sovereign claims.”
Bower said such incidents raise the risk that a small clash could escalate and it was important for the US to make its commitment to the region clear ahead of a planned visit to Asia, including the Philippines, by US President Barack Obama next month.
“The Chinese look at the situation in Syria and Ukraine, and they look at the so-called Asia pivot, and they don’t think there is any political foundation that has been built that would support American action in Asia if push came to shove,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS