The presence of Chinese vessels at a disputed reef off the Philippines could ignite “unwanted hostilities”, a top aide to President Rodrigo Duterte has warned, intensifying a diplomatic spat over the ships that Manila described as “maritime militia”.
More than 200 Chinese boats were first spotted on March 7 at Whitsun Reef, approximately 320 kilometres (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan Island within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Most of them have since scattered across the Spratly Islands but last week dozens of the Chinese-flagged vessels were still anchored at the boomerang-shaped reef, according to Philippine military patrols.
For weeks Manila has called on Beijing to withdraw the “maritime militia” vessels, saying their incursion into the Philippines’s EEZ is illegal as defined by the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
China Tests Biden With South China Sea Tactic That Misled Obama
Andreo Calonzo and Philip J. Heijmans, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) Based on the official view from Beijing, the Philippines has no reason to worry about Chinese fishing boats sitting along a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
The vessels initially numbering in the hundreds were simply âtaking shelter from the windâ and the Philippines should view the situation in a ârational light,â Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on March 22 when the news first broke.
Two weeks later, more than 40 boats are still at Whitsun Reef and the statements are getting more and more terse. The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department on Monday warned China it would issue daily diplomatic protests as long as the âmaritime militiaâ remains in place, using the same language as the U.S. to describe the fleet stationed in an area known as Julian Felipe Reef in the Philippines and Niuâe
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian s Regular Press Conference on April 6, 2021
2021/04/06
The New York Times published a few days ago a long article Swelling Anti-Asian Violence: Who Is Being Attacked Where . T
ver the last year
,
people of Asian descent have been pushed, beaten, kicked, spit on and called slurs. Homes and businesses have been vandalized
across
the US since March 2020 in which there was clear evidence of race-based hate. Of all attacks against Asians, many were not calculated where hate was not determined to be a clear motivation. An earlier California State University report shows that in 2020, hate crimes against Asians in the US surged by 149%. Do you have a comment?
Water Wars: Philippines No Fool about Chinese Maritime Militia, While China Keeps Pressure on Taiwan
Testing Taiwan
On March 26, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported the incursion of 20 Chinese military aircraft in Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ). This is the largest incursion yet reported by the ministry. The Chinese aircraft included four nuclear-capable H-6K bombers, 10 J-16 fighter jets, two J-10 fighter jets, two Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, one Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft, and a KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft. In response, Taiwan’s air force scrambled jets and deployed missiles to “monitor” the intruding planes.