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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS