MANILA: The Philippines will “stand our ground” in a dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, a top security official said Friday, eight years after an international ruling against China in the territorial contest.
Tensions over the strategic waterway, a key passage for sea-borne trade, have soared in the past 18 months following a series of escalating confrontations between Philippine and Chinese ships.The most serious happened on June 17, when China Coast Guard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine Navy boats during a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
The Philippines filed a case against China in 2013. Three years later, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in Manila’s favour, declaring China’s expansive claims had no legal basis.Former president Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in 2016, set aside the ruling in exchange for warmer ties with China.That changed when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos was elected in 2022, insisting he would not let China trample on Manila’s maritime rights.
That includes Second Thomas Shoal, which lies about 200 kilometres from the western Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island. Dozens of Filipino activists rallied in Manila on Friday to insist that the West Philippine Sea – the Philippines’ name for the South China Sea waters to its immediate west – “is ours”.
The Philippines has deepened defence cooperation with the United States and other countries in the face of China’s growing assertiveness.
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