https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/in-the-pacific-china-isnt-just-threatening-taiwan/
Crisis in East Asia may hit the Philippines first. America must deter it.
Repeated hostile Chinese military incursions into another country’s sovereign territory. CCP claims over this same territory and attempts to exclude the rightful owner. Use of civilian cover to bolster Beijing’s military capacity. Deliberate pushing of international legal boundaries to the limit of outright conflict. Bogus narratives denying this truth and blaming the victim.
This malign cycle repeats over and over, always rising in intensity and slowly but surely bringing China’s favored policy outcomes closer to realization.
You would be forgiven if you think this story is about Taiwan, but it isn’t. It’s actually about another island archipelago just to its south: the Philippines. And the ever-increasing danger to this Asian nation from Beijing is perhaps even more concerning for the United States than the threats to Taiwan.
This trend menacingly accelerated just last week, when eight Chinese Coast Guard vessels attacked a two-boat Philippine naval-resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll firmly within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In that brazen assault, Chinese military personnel were armed with various weapons, including axes and knives, while their counterparts were unarmed.