{"id":208909,"date":"2019-04-08T02:54:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T06:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=208909"},"modified":"2019-04-08T02:54:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T06:54:46","slug":"recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/08\/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The\u00a0Philippines\u00a0regards a chain of islands and islets, nine of which it occupies, in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea as a municipality it calls Kalayaan under its western province of Palawan. (File Photo<\/a>: PTV\/Website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEIJING \u2014 A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbours in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly look at developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts in the region.<\/p>\n

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US CONCERNED OVER CHINESE SHIPS NEAR\u00a0PHILIPPINE\u00a0ISLANDS<\/p>\n

A senior U.S. official says the presence of large numbers of Chinese vessels near islands and islets occupied by the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0is \u201ca concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0government protested the Chinese ship movements Thursday after its military monitored more than 200 Chinese vessels from January to March in a disputed area named Sandy Cay, which is near the\u00a0Philippine-occupied island of Pag-asa.<\/p>\n

Asked about the situation while on a visit to Bangkok, Joseph Felter, deputy assistant secretary of defence for South and\u00a0Southeast Asia, told reporters Friday that the U.S. is troubled \u201cby any aggressive activity by any country in the South China Sea, in this case China. We see that as of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, China’s activities are of concern. It seems to be somewhat aggressive and provocative and we feel that they’re unnecessary and unwarranted,\u201d said Felter, who was in Thailand to attend a meeting of defence officials of the Association of\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0Nations, or ASEAN.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippines\u00a0regards a chain of islands and islets, nine of which it occupies, in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea as a municipality it calls Kalayaan under its western province of Palawan. That claim conflicts with the larger territorial claims of China, Vietnam, and three other governments in a long-simmering Asian dispute.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

DUTERTE TALKS OF ‘SUICIDE MISSIONS’ TO DEFEND TERRITORY<\/p>\n

Philippine\u00a0President Rodrigo Duterte says he has few options other than to order troops to \u201cprepare for suicide missions\u201d if a\u00a0Philippine-occupied island comes under threat from China.<\/p>\n

Duterte reminded China in a speech Thursday night of its closer ties with the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0under his leadership, but said if an island occupied by Filipinos in the disputed waters is threatened, \u201cthings would be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte has adopted a non-confrontational approach in territorial spats with Beijing while seeking Chinese infrastructure funds, trade and investment. He has often lashed out at the security policies of the United States, a treaty ally, while praising China and Russia.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0military has monitored Chinese vessels in a disputed area named Sandy Cay near the island Filipinos call Pag-asa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m trying to tell China, Pag-asa is ours … so let us be friends but do not touch Pag-asa Island and the rest. Otherwise, things would be different,\u201d Duterte said. \u201cThis is not a warning, this is just a word of advice to my friends, because China is our friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not plead or beg, but I’m just telling you (to) lay off (of) Pag-asa because I have soldiers there,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you touch it, that’s another story. Then I will tell my soldiers ‘prepare for suicide missions.\u201d’<\/p>\n

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PHILIPPINES\u00a0PROTESTS CHINESE VESSELS NEAR ISLANDS<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0government has protested the presence of large numbers of Chinese vessels near islands and islets occupied by the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0as illegal and vowed to take \u201cappropriate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued the rare public rebuke of the Chinese presence after the\u00a0Philippine\u00a0military monitored more than 200 Chinese vessels from January to March in a disputed area named Sandy Cay near a\u00a0Philippine-occupied island called Pag-asa by Filipinos.<\/p>\n

The statement said the presence of the Chinese vessels there was illegal. \u201cSuch actions are a clear violation of\u00a0Philippine\u00a0sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction as defined under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The department said it has lodged diplomatic protests and raised concerns in meetings with Chinese officials, and that the presence of Chinese military, fishing or other vessels in the area would \u201ccontinue to be the subject of appropriate action by the\u00a0Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on the Chinese government to adhere to this consensus reached at the highest levels, down to its agencies and its military,\u201d the\u00a0Philippine\u00a0foreign affairs department said.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Jim Gomez and Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report from Manila,\u00a0Philippines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIJING \u2014 A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbours in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":165962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-christopher-bodeen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208910,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208909\/revisions\/208910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}