Grounded ship, disputed waters, hostile neighbours: Face-off between China & Philippines in South China Sea

Concerns are growing after an attack on a Philippine vessel by Chinese coast guard. ThePrint explains China’s claims over the South China Sea & US-Philippine ties.

BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 is pictured on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea | Reuters

New Delhi: Global concerns are rising over a territorial dispute between China and the US- aligned Philippines on a grounded warship situated in the South China Sea. On Saturday, the Philippine military accused Beijing of breaking international law by using a water cannon against its warship near the Spratly Islands and blocking vessels carrying food, water, fuel and other supplies.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry defended the actions with claims that Manila was bringing construction materials into the vessel, Manila called Beijing’s tactics as ‘excessive and dangerous’.

Jonathan Malaya, a senior official of Philippine National Security Council, reiterated that Manila will “never abandon our post in Ayungin Shoal” or the Second Thomas Shoal.

While the Spratly Islands are a collection of islands and other marine features such as reefs, banks and more, the Second Thomas Shoal is an atoll — a ring-shaped coral reef — in the Spratly Islands located in the South China Sea.

China stated action was taken after the Philippines “repeatedly ignored” demands to remove the grounded World War II ship from the South China Sea, which Beijing claims is under its expansive control. It also accused Manila of trying to “permanently occupy” the Ren’ai Reef, the Chinese term for the Second Thomas Shoal.

In response, the Philippine Foreign Ministry Tuesday observed that the “permanent station” at the atoll was in response to China’s “illegal occupation” of the Mischief Reef in 1995. Mischief Reef is located roughly 250 km from the Philippines’ Palawan Island and about 1,000 km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

The grounded warship BRP Sierra Madre is currently under the commission of the Philippine Navy and is used as a makeshift military base. It has been at the centre of the conflict between Beijing and Manila after it was intentionally grounded in the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to function as a military post in the region.

Dispute in South China Sea

This is not the first time China and the Philippines have clashed over the Spratly Islands. Both the Spratly as well as the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea have been under dispute among various nations including Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei along with China, which has the most expansive claims over the region.

In April, the Philippine Coast Guard stated that two vessels were in a ‘confrontation’ with the Chinese navy near the disputed Spratly Islands. Across two incidents, the Chinese navy asserted its claim over the region using ‘dangerous manoeuvres’.

The South China Sea is an essential shipping route and one of the busiest waterways in the world. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, roughly $3.37 trillion or 21 percent of global trade travelled through these waters in 2016.

On the basis of the nine-dash line, China claims ‘indisputable sovereignty’ over 90 percent of the South China Sea. This claim is based on a U-shaped nine-dash line etched on a map in the 1940s by a Chinese geographer.

However, in 2016, a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s claims have no legal basis.

Over the years, numerous countries, including the US, Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia among others, have rejected the line and Beijing’s historic claims over the region. Recently, several South East Asian countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines and Malaysia banned the hit Greta Gerwig film Barbie over a scene wherein a map features the South China Sea with the nine-dash line.

Over the years, China and the Philippines have constantly clashed over the Spratly Islands, with Manila reporting incursions by 287 Chinese maritime militia vessels into its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 2021.

China has repeatedly used its coast guard to assert dominance in the region. In November 2021, the coast guard had used a water cannon against a Philippine supply crew.

These acts have pushed Manila closer to Washington, especially under President Bongbong Marcos. It gave Washington access to four more military bases, including one strategically facing Taiwan, as part of reviving an Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement in February.

In May, the two countries agreed upon new guidelines within the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which mandates that both nations will support each other in case of attack from external parties. The Pentagon stated Tuesday that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin had spoken to Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr. to reaffirm this alliance.

Moreover, the EU, France, Japan and Australia have expressed concerns over China’s assertions and reaffirmed support towards the Philippines.

The Philippines has been upping its defence arsenal in recent years, as a part of its modernisation endeavours. Last year, the Philippines bought three batteries of supersonic cruise Brahmos missiles from India worth $375 million in an effort to strengthen its navy and secure maritime interests against China. It is also in talks with Indian for more defence equipment focussed on aerial and coastal defence.

Furthermore, Manila also bought two long-range patrol planes worth $114 million from Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems. These planes are equipped with advanced tech for photography capabilities, radar, cyber and signals intelligence (‘SIGINT’) gathering solutions, advanced communications and more.

The Philippines is also modernising its naval fleet with the induction of new warships amid the rising tensions with China.

Growing China-Russia ties

China and Russia, meanwhile, have been growing closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, with bilateral trade rising to $20.83 billion in June.

While asserting its claims in the South China Sea, China has been hosting joint military drills with Russia across the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk as well as near the Alaskan coast, among others.

This week, the Russian Defense Ministry stated ships from both countries had travelled more than 2,300 nautical miles and conducted drills involving communications training, helicopter landings and takeoffs and a joint anti-submarine exercise in the southwestern part of the Bering Sea, between the US and Russia in the North Pacific Ocean.

According to the reports, 11 Russian and Chinese ships conducted drills near the Aleutian Islands, close to the Alaskan coast last week. While these vessels did not enter US waters and were shadowed by four American destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircraft, many called the move ‘highly provocative’.

(Edited by Tony Rai)