Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near a disputed reef in the South China Sea as tensions in the waters continue to rise.
Beijing and Manila traded blame for the incident, which took place near Second Thomas Shoal, where Chinese and Philippine vessels have frequent intense encounters. The incidents typically occur when the Philippines attempts to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship Manila grounded on the reef in 1999, to assert its claims.
In the incident on Sunday, the Philippines accused the Chinese Coast Guard of firing water cannons and intentionally ramming resupply vessels. For their part, China claimed the Philippine vessels were responsible for the crash.
“The Philippines’ vessel Unaizah Mae 1 ignored multiple serious warnings and infringed the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea by taking a sudden turn in an unprofessional and dangerous way,” the Chinese Coast Guard said.
The collision near Second Thomas Shoal took place a day after a similar encounter between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal, another reef in the South China Sea claimed by both sides.
The frequency of such encounters has skyrocketed since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office last year and began taking a harder line against China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. Marcos has taken steps to strengthen Manila’s alliance with the US, but the increased US involvement in the region has not deterred Beijing.
The US has repeatedly stated that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, turning the waters into a potential flashpoint for a war between the US and China.
Utilize a traffic cop in the water ways… I’m not prepared to go to war over something this foolish…
I’m curious, who do you support in this dispute?
If I’m right, you are with China as you seem to side with dictators or anything anti US.
Silence is consent.
I support PEACE and common HUMAN DECENCY.
Peace my a$$. Common human decency? where was that when Putin invaded Ukraine?
You support dictators and so everything anti US just like the rest here.
You can’t fool me, I’ve read your postings for almost 2 years and not once have you indicated otherwise.
Anyone supporting peace will be against all belligerents. You have not done that.
You are full of it just like Wars and the rest of the anti US team here.
I am a peace activist and a sometimes political writer. I back up my sh-t.
BS.
Again, you can fool others. Not me.
“”Anyone supporting peace will be against all belligerents””
surely by ‘belligerents’ you are referring to uncle sam
In our undefined “rules based order” rule #1 is “We do what we want, and all others do as we say.”
Do you also have TDS like you have PDS?
Is cheerleading for more war, especially against nuclear weapons superpowers, pro-American in your mind?
Don’t have to take a side – butt out!!
“But…but…I can go on a rant about Putin in an unrelated Comment section !”
“silence is consent” wow she has a sunflower for an avatar whilst you seem to be quite the bully.
“Silence is consent.”
Now, Donald, I think you know that statement is false. Silence on a topic could come from indifference on a topic; a lack of compelling reason to side with one party or the other; or simply no opinion to offer for discussion.
It’s in their Monroe Doctrine-like area of the world; certainly not ours.
The US back in bed with the Marcos clan, models of monstrous corruption. Not that any of us should be surprised. 🙄
Shoe prices going up!!!!!!
Me : {sitting on stack of mint Air Jordan 4’s, templing fingers diabolically} “Good, good…”
Some of our younger friends may benefit from a reference:
https://medium.com/@nafbeltran/imelda-marcos-the-woman-who-had-3-000-pairs-of-shoes-c215cea3458c
China does not have “sweeping claims to the South China Sea.” At the moment it has interests in 2d Thomas and Scarborough Shoals.
Marcos has taken steps to strengthen Manila’s alliance with the US, but as of now he has not asked for military assistance. Marcos also has problems with domestic enemies, ISIS and communists, while his sucking up to the US has got China’s attention.
BTW, in the SCS Vietnam has three times as many islands as China, and is militarizing them, but we’ll never be informed of that by the MSM parrots.
Also remember, China’s claims are the same as their province Taiwan’s claims.
It’s sad when 2 of the last 5 Communist countries in the world have to dispute each other (and the USA has to side with at least one of them).
China is both communist and capitalist; China’s President Xi Jinping is in Vietnam today.
“China is both communist and capitalist;”
Hah, very true ! Too much of one, not enough of the other, and depends who you ask as to which is which. Communist In Name Only, but CINO is also Vietnam. And the DPRK. Not sure how close Laos is staying to Marx & pals.
I wonder for how long the DPRC can straddle the line between what seems like diammetrically-opposed philosophies. I guess it’s a question of which affords the most power to the ruling elite.
Forms of government: China’s has pulled it quickly out of poverty, while the US goes in the opposite direction.
I dunno – the DPRC’s remarkably low-res, less-convincing-than-the-Piri-Reis-map “Nine-Dash Line” sketch is prettttttyyyy compelling evidence… #eyeroll
Since when has foreign policy determined by a sketch? China has said nothing about it, first seen 80 years ago.
The US State Department in a 2014 study:
Well, to be faaaaaaair, I recall borders in the Middle East drawn with a pencil and a ruler.
I just like the thought that a tertiary piece of evidence in the modern case for South China Sea territorial boundaries (again, conceding your point that it’s not actually in consideration) is a flimsy pirate-treasure sort of map.
Further to my amusement would be if scientific analysis of any original document determined the “nine-dash line” was actually stains from a coffee mug carelessly set upon it.
This mistaken attention to a sketch has resulted in the ignorant MSM to prattle about China wanting to own open water, which is impossible, when it’s really interested in territory and its adjacent water.
Yes. And here, loathe as I am to say the terms (but will use lower-case so as to not invoke the phrases themselves), rules-based order and respect for international law, on all sides, is the path through this.
Territorial waters and fishing limits and economic exclusion zones are neat when such numbers don’t overlap. On the North American West Coast it’s easy. Southeast Asian where the geography gets crowded ? Yee-ikes.
There’s where all parties have to (gulp, ugh, ewww) consider the needs and wants of ALL concerned parties, and find a mutually acceptable compromise.
Like that maxim about creating fair and just rules – create a law not knowing whether, when the proposed law is enacted, you will be the beneficiary or the victim of it.
Hey man, did you steal the Don Bacon Avatar?
I ask because the Don Bacon I knew had contradicting positions than yours?
He was obviously pro Ukraine, was hated very much here and often times confused with my name.
Also, for some reason, I cannot find any of his statements from last 18 months in your comment history plus I dont’ remember Don B havein over 14K comments.
Did you take his avatar? If you did, that’s very cheap and dishonest. Can you explain?
Yes. My avatar is Smedley Butler, used by me in the Smedley Butler Society many years ago, then borrowed w/o my permission couple years ago.
Got it. Thanks for the response.
my avatar is showing his appreciation for you Agent Julio
President Xi has ordered a step-up in 2d Thomas Reef activity.
Dec 11, 2023 – GlobalTimes
China vows to take ‘resolute measures’ amid Philippine scheme to seize Ren’ai Reef [2d Thomas Reef]
If this had happened in British Columbia, the lumbering monstrosity of a monopolistic public auto insurer (ICBC) would have assigned the fault as 50/50 and left it at that. They recently reverted to a ‘no-fault’ insurance system because not-investigating causes of accidents was too much work for overpaid snivel-servants. I openly hate ICBC more than Al Qaeda, Daesh, and Focus on the Family COMBINED. Yeah.
from the Manila Times
The United States also called on China to abide by the 2016 arbitral ruling and stop its dangerous and destabilizing conduct in the South China Sea. . .here
UNCLOS is law of the sea, not territory including shoals etc. and their territorial waters
from the UNCLOS Tribunal, 2016
sovereignty
p. 6
The Tribunal accepted that there is a dispute between the Parties concerning sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea, but held that the matters submitted to arbitration by the Philippines do not concern sovereignty.
p. 10
the Tribunal emphasized that it was not deciding sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal . .here