U.S. Response to Allies May Be Measured by China’s South China Sea Actions, Experts Suggest
Tensions in the South China Sea continue to simmer following multiple confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in the crucial waterway over recent months.
Buildings and structures on the artificial island constructed by China in Mischief Reef, located in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, are seen on October 25, 2022. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) defense ministry said the Philippine side “deliberately and dangerously” approached its naval ships, causing the collision. The Philippines’ foreign ministry blamed the Chinese authorities’ “illegal and aggressive actions” for the accident.
A 2016 international ruling rejected the CCP’s claim of waters near Second Second Thomas Shoal, saying the island was within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. The CCP, however, dismissed the ruling by the U.N.-affiliated court in The Hague, Netherlands, and refused to participate in the arbitration.
June Teufel Dreyer, an expert on the U.S.–China relationship and professor of political science at the University of Miami, noted that the Chinese regime has long sought to exert pressure on the Philippines.
