Philippine security officials say Chinese forces have seized two Philippine rubber boats that were delivering food and other supplies to a military ship outpost in a disputed South China Sea shoal in a tense confrontation in which some Filipino navy personnel were injured.
The Philippine navy inherited the former U.S. tank-landing ship USS Harnett County in 1976, and ran it deliberately aground at Second Thomas Shoal in 1999. The Sierra Madre is now effectively a shipwreck, but the Philippine military has not decommissioned it. This makes the ship an extension of the government and means any attack on the ship is tantamount to an assault against the Philippines. Manila deploys civilian boats with a fresh batch of marines and 10 tons of food for resupply. In a bid to draw global attention to what Philippine officials have called China’s bullying tactics, they have invited more than a dozen journalists, TV cameramen and photographers to come along on the 30-hour-plus journey from the Philippine mainland.
Wait, so they put a boat on a strip of land and now claim it their territory, because the ship is not officially decommissioned, despite being a shipwreck (and thus useless as a boat)? Am I missing something here?
They put a boat on a strip of their land in Philippine waters.
That’s not how UNCLOS works.
And how exactly does China’s claim work within unclos? The shoal is only 190nm away from the Philippines and should be part of the Philippines exclusive economic zone. If there is any questions of legitimate territorial claim it would be with Vietnam not China.
Also, stopping any navigation within your own exclusive economic zone goes against unclos, let alone stopping navigation of a country in their own exclusive economic zone.
What’s your point? The Philippines bases their entire claim on their interpretation of UNCLOS, but flouts it at every opportunity. International law for thee but not for me.
You seemed to be suggesting that what the Philippines is doing is breaking the rules of unclos, but you haven’t explained how.
How? They are allowed to protect the resources in their exclusive economic zone. China on the other hand is still attempting to enforce a claim that was invalidated by international courts in 2016.
Seems like you might be projecting on the behalf of China.
You’re not allowed to set up a territorial military outpost in EEZ lol
In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the construction, operation and use of:
(a) artificial islands;
(b) installations and structures for the purposes provided for in article 56 and other economic purposes;
© installations and structures which may interfere with the exercise of the rights of the coastal State in the zone.
There no language in the EEZ article that mentions “territorial military outpost”.
You can’t beach a ship in your own territorial waters and then get upset when China comes to take your stuff and harass you? Do you understand what is even happening in the South China Sea?
Do you think the territorial sea extends 200nm?
I think that’s more plausible than China’s claim that their exclusive economic zone stretches over a thousand miles off their coast, and supercedes both Vietnams and the Philippines exclusive economic zones…
Glad that we agree that the South China Sea is entirely vibes-driven and has no foundation in international law.
Nah, there’s pretty clear rules. It’s just that the main power in the region tends to ignore them when it suits them. Again, how is the Philippine government breaking international law?
So basically deliberate provocation.