Why China, Philippines Keep Clashing at Sea and What Comes Next
- Marcos discarded Duterte’s non-confrontation maritime strategy
- Rhetoric from both sides suggest neither wants to go to war
This article is for subscribers only.
Dangerous sea maneuvers. Water cannons and laser light. Swarming and collisions. These are just some of the flash points that are inflaming tensions between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
Several Asian countries have overlapping claims on the maritime territories but it’s the increasingly intense competition between Beijing and Manila that’s been drawing global attention of late. The prospect of an encounter in the waters that could drag the US into direct conflict with China is making the South China Sea at times more dangerous than the Taiwan Strait, observers say.