MANILA, Philippines – Four Chinese surveillance ships have returned to Ayungin Shoal after several months of absence. A security official who asked not be named said two of the Chinese ships have the 306 and 363 markings on their bows, while the two others look like frigates. “They’ve been spotted near Ayungin since last week,” […]
Shortly after we published our article in the Oct. 27 issue about the Filipino marines stationed on a forsaken boat in the South China Sea, Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippines. In the wake of the storm it became clear that thousands of Filipinos had died. The photographer Ashley Gilberston and I were naturally concerned about the […]
MANILA – Super typhoon Yolanda has sent home Chinese maritime and Navy vessels at the Ayungin Reef in Palawan, while the half a dozen Philippine Marines on board a rusting and grounded World War II-era ship are safe, a source told InterAksyon.com. This effectively ends the standoff between the two countries some 100 nautical miles […]
That’s the so-called cabbage strategy that China is employing to stake its maritime territorial claims, and a ranking Chinese military officer says his country should take more disputed territory from the Philippines, The New York Times Magazine has reported. Quoting Maj. Gen. Zhang Zhaozhong of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Sunday magazine cover article […]
After fortifying its naval outposts in the South China Sea, China has established a maritime surveillance patrol route that covers practically all disputed reefs, shoals and islets in the sea, even those within 85 nautical miles of the Philippines’ westernmost island province of Palawan, a classified military report seen Monday by Kyodo News says. The […]
The rusty BRP Sierra Madre has been an effective deterrence against further Chinese incursion into Philippine territorial claims. FILE PHOTO BY ABIGAIL KWOK (Editor’s note: Jose Antonio A. Custodio is a security and defense consultant and was a technical adviser for a US defense company working for the US Pacific Command. He also specializes in […]
BRUSSELS – The Philippines’ top diplomat has underscored that the arbitral proceedings initiated by Manila to challenge China’s excessive maritime claims do not undermine the consultations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Beijing for the crafting of a Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del […]
MANILA, Philippines – The Western Command vowed that it will not abandon Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Reef) in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) even as China maintained its presence there. “As far as the Wescom is concerned we are continuously monitoring our good friends in that area with what is available with my […]
MANILA, Philippines—China is turning the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) into “one country’s lake,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Tuesday, pressing Manila’s effort to roll back Beijing’s expansive claims in the strategic waterway. Speaking before an experts’ roundtable on maritime security in Brussels, Belgium, Del Rosario said China’s assertion of ownership over […]
Two Chinese vessels have been spotted again in the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off northern Philippines, days after it was reported that the ships have left the area, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. “Yesterday [Sunday], we received a report from the Philippine Navy confirming that Chinese ships are back in Bajo de Masinloc,” […]