It resulted in an encounter that lasted several hours before the Philippine ships turned back.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing remain high after the Philippines coast guard cut China’s barriers in disputed waters last month.

Manila resupplies its outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands, every month to reinforce its economic rights to waters that are both rich in fish and mineral resources.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys, which is also claimed in part by the Philippines.

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
    153·
    1 year ago

    Time for the US Navy to decide to use that waterway and watch them scatter.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
      175·
      1 year ago

      Yeah we could, and occasionally we do, that but its very confrontational and can easily lead to a continually escalating game of one-upmanship that really has no good end.

      • pensa@kbin.social
        211·
        1 year ago

        It is properly called Freedom of Navigation and has nothing to do with one-upmanship. It is international law that pretty much everyone agrees to except China. We, as Americans, are in the best position to counter their territory grabs in the area by conducting Freedom of Navigation operations.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_navigation

      • magnetosphere@kbin.social
        162·
        1 year ago

        Constantly letting China grab whatever territory they want is 100% guaranteed to have no good end. A show of force is not. China has the option to back down, obey international law, and prevent war.

        • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
          51·
          1 year ago

          I didn’t say anything about “Constantly letting them grab whatever territory they want.” I said that we already directly interdict occasionally but it’s very confrontational and doing it too often starts a game of tit-for-tat that will become very difficult to stop.

          It’s better to support the Philippines and others with material and technology and let THEM do it…which is primarily how the United States is handling the problem. We don’t need to rush in and flop our enormous Naval Cock on the table every time the Chinese Coast Guard does something stupid.

          Empower the locals to handle the small stuff. It slows or prevents escalation and builds trust, trust we may really need if things go pear shaped.

      • bioemerl@kbin.social
        7·
        1 year ago

        Claiming the South China Sea is confrontational.

        Showing those claims are bunk makes sure that China doesn’t think it can gain from further claims.