Global Impact: China warns of infringing on its sovereignty, Philippines plans first submarine as South China Sea tensions continue

Name: Why the South China Sea dispute remains one of the region’s most pressing issues
Uploaded: 2024-02-05T06:00:19.000Z
Duration: 5 min 22 s
Description: Why the South China Sea dispute remains one of the region’s most pressing issues

Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world

In this week’s issue, we attempt to keep up with the ever-evolving tensions in the South China Sea following a busy time in the disputed waterway

Reading Time:6 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Maria Siow

Published: 2:00pm, 5 Feb 2024

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Tensions in the South China Sea show no signs of abating, with the Philippine navy expressing alarm this week over the growing presence of Chinese warships and maritime militia boats around Mischief Reef in the disputed waterway.

Navy spokesman Roy Vincent Trinidad said about 200 vessels, including coastguard fleets, were swarming the outcrop about 37km (23 miles) away from the Second Thomas Shoal, referred to by the Chinese as Renai Jiao.

Apart from upgrading all of the territorial features – islands, shoals and reefs – that the Philippines occupies in the region, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr made it clear that his country would purchase its first submarine to defend its maritime sovereignty.

China’s coastguard, on the other hand, said it had “driven off” four Filipinos from a disputed shoal, alleging that the latter had “illegally intruded into” the Scarborough Shoal.

05:22

Why the South China Sea dispute remains one of the region’s most pressing issues

These developments occurred just days after Beijing and Manila agreed to further improve maritime communication and “properly manage their differences through consultation” during their bilateral consultative mechanism meeting held in Shanghai.