You why. Im melissa chan welcome to news asia thanks for joining us filipino president rudra go to caretake gears up for a faceoff with china its his 5th visit there at a time when he faces pressure back home to raise the problem of beijings military expansion in the South China Sea even before it began it promised to be a feisty affair threatened to cancel the trip if you couldnt discuss the contested waters the philippines like others in the region rejects chinas claim to the area china wants to control virtually the entire sea which is a critical shipping route rich in fish and oil and gas reserves in recent years beijing has stepped. Naval patrols and even constructed manmade islands theyre worrying neighbors and in 2016 an International Tribunal in the hague ruled that china was in the wrong china ignored the ruling. In the philippines critics have pounced on to territory for being seen to turn a blind eye to chinas development in return for trade but when a chinese vessel rammed