The Chinese Coast Guard said on Tuesday that it fired water cannons at Filipino ships near the Scarborough Shoal, a feature China is attempting to seize by force in defiance of international law.
The Chinese Communist government announced on Wednesday that it will create a “national nature reserve” in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, using Filipino land the Chinese have occupied by force. The announcement was clearly an effort to consolidate Beijing’s grip on the shoal despite international tribunal rulings against China’s expansive territorial claims.
The latest dangerous incident involving Chinese ships in the South China Sea took place on Monday, when two Chinese ships collided while trying to chase a Philippine patrol boat away from the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
A Chinese Coast Guard ship attacked a Philippine government vessel near the Scarborough Shoal on Friday, using a water cannon to drive the Philippine ship out of waters claimed by China.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the Chinese air force for conducting “unjustified, illegal, and reckless” maneuvers.
China took an increasingly aggressive stance towards the Philippines this week, threatening to use force to repel civilian activists who are bringing supplies to Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal.
China disputed the Philippine Coast Guard’s claim it removed a hazardous floating barrier from a lagoon in the Scarborough Shoal.
The Philippine government announced on Monday that it will take legal action against China for harvesting giant clams at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
Japan courted the wrath of China on Monday by announcing its submarine Kuroshio has been dispatched to join an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea on Thursday, marking the first officially confirmed drill for a Japanese sub in those contested waters.
Satellite images taken on Friday revealed that China has returned surface-to-air missiles to Woody Island in the Paracels, restoring them to exactly the same positions they occupied before tensions with the United States prompted Beijing to withdraw the weapons.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took his rapprochement with China to a new level on Monday by joking that China should consider absorbing his country and turning it into a province of the People’s Republic.
The latest American freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea provoked an angry response from China, delivered through editorials in state-run media that blamed the United States for escalating tensions in the region.
Contents: Turkey begins its air and ground invasion of Syria’s Afrin; China lies about ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in new confrontation in South China Sea; Summary of major Generational Dynamics predictions
Contents: Chinese vessels massing near Philippines island in South China Sea; Official warns may be necessary to invoke US-Philippines mutual defense treaty
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said “in jest” during a speech Thursday that he believed China was seeking to turn his country into “a province” of theirs, after condemning the United States for not doing enough to stop China from building artificial islands on Philippine territory in the South China Sea.
Contents: Taiwan says it must defend against increasingly threatening China; China responds harshly to Taiwan’s defense report; Taiwan’s government responds to China’s threats; China begins construction on Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal
Contents: Vietnam protests China’s fishing ban in the South China Sea; China’s fishing ban related to food security in times of war; North Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea near Japan
Contents: China preparing to install long-range missiles in South China Sea; China’s ASEAN neighbors express increasing anxiety over China’s illegal militarization
On Friday, the U.S. Pacific Command announced that one of its patrol aircraft had a “close encounter” with a Chinese plane over the South China Sea. The Pentagon initially classified the encounter as “unsafe” but later walked this judgment back.
Contents: China-Philippines détente unravels over Scarborough Shoal; Mainstream media frets over Steve Bannon, the Fourth Turning, and Donald Trump
Contents: Philippines to reject US use of its bases for South China Sea patrols; China says its South China Sea military buildup is a boon to the world; Vietnam and Australia reject China’s claims
Contents: Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte in comic dance with China; Duterte’s statement generates backlash at home; Philippines president Duterte apparently cedes Scarborough Shoal to China
On Sunday, the government of the Philippines asked the Chinese ambassador to explain why a growing flotilla of Chinese boats is surrounding the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Contents: China’s ‘ironclad proof’ of South China Sea claims revealed as hoax; The craziness of China’s claims in South China Sea; France calls for European navies to patrol the South China Sea; A request to readers: Protect the Generational Dynamics legacy
Pentagon officials confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that they had canceled a “freedom of navigation” exercise planned for April that was intended to make a statement against China’s growing colonization of the region.
China builds Navy designed to overwhelm the US Navy; Philippine fishermen harassed by China’s ‘cabbage strategy’
