Duterte counters China
Moves to check island expansion.
South China Sea: Philippines’ Duterte sends troops to unoccupied islands
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered troops to occupy uninhabited islands and reefs in the disputed South China Sea.
“The unoccupied, which are ours, let’s live on it,” Mr Duterte told reporters during a visit to a military base in Palawan.
The move is expected to anger China, which claims several contested shoals, islets and reefs in the territory.
China has been constructing artificial islands in the area for years.
While the Philippines occupies nine features in the South China Sea, including a World War Two-era transport ship, Beijing claims almost all of the territory. It is unlikely to welcome an increased military presence from the Philippines.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim territory in the strategic area.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Duterte said: “It looks like everyone is making a grab for the islands there. So we better live on those that are still unoccupied.”
The deployment is a change of tack for President Duterte, who said last month that it was pointless trying to challenge China’s fortification of its man-made islands.
“We cannot stop them because they are building it with their mind fixed that they own the place. China will go to war,” he said then.
Raising the flag
On Thursday, the 72-year-old added that he might visit a Philippine-controlled island, Thitu, to raise the national flag there on 12 June, the country’s Independence Day.
He then proposed building a barracks for servicemen operating in the area.
The president’s stance comes despite a push for warmer relations between Manila and Beijing in recent months.
In October, Mr Duterte had announced his “separation” from the US, declaring that he had realigned the Philippines with China, and would resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks.
The former mayor of Davao city, who is known for his outspoken sound bites, joked before his election that he would jet ski to a man-made Chinese island to reinforce Manila’s claim.
At present, China controls several reefs in the South China Sea, among them Scarborough Shoal, which it seized from Manila in 2012.
The reef lies just 230 kilometres (143 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon.
China and the Philippines are scheduled to hold talks in May to address tensions over the much-debated waters.
Timeline: When tensions spilled over
In recent decades, the most serious trouble has flared between Vietnam and China, but there have also been stand-offs between the Philippines and China. Some of the incidents include:
- In 1974 the Chinese seized the Paracels from Vietnam, killing more than 70 Vietnamese troops.
- In 1988 the two sides clashed in the Spratlys, with Vietnam again coming off worse, losing about 60 sailors.
- In early 2012, China and the Philippines engaged in a lengthy maritime stand-off, accusing each other of intrusions in the Scarborough Shoal.
- Unverified claims that the Chinese navy sabotaged two Vietnamese exploration operations in late 2012 led to large anti-China protests on Vietnam’s streets.
- In January 2013, Manila said it was taking China to a UN tribunal under the auspices of the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea, to challenge its claims.
- In May 2014, the introduction by China of a drilling rig into waters near the Paracel Islands led to multiple collisions between Vietnamese and Chinese ships.
Source: bbc.co.uk
