China Vs. Philippines
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Chinese fishing boats started swarming the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in mid May. Some had already been drifting around the picturesque reef in the Philippines exclusive economic zone for some time.
However, the Chinese boats were not regular fishing vessels, and they weren’t there to fish. They were there to counter a Philippine aid flotilla aiming to deliver supplies to fishers near the disputed shoal. In the end, the aid flotilla turned back before it reached the shoal.
The Chinese vessels were part of a maritime militia, a shadowy armada whose existence Beijing rarely acknowledges and that it has long used to help hold or take disputed territory it says it owns in the region.
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The Philippines is looking to create a new base on the site of a former American naval air station at Subic Bay to increase its aerial surveillance and power projection capabilities in the South China Sea.
A new forward operating base that can support reconnaissance and attack aircraft will be established at Subic Bay International Airport according to Philippine Air Force bidding documents and development plans. While plans to fully develop the former American naval base were announced almost a decade ago, it was only this year that the service invited companies to bid for the project.
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https://apnews.com/article/china-philippines-sabina-shoal-collision-fd76fcfcbcfcfdce5eb81c9422e8216c
Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships collided at sea, damaging at least two vessels, in an encounter early Monday near a new flashpoint in their increasingly alarming confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.
Each blamed the other for the collision near Sabina Shoal, a disputed atoll in the Spratly Islands, where Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. There were no reports of injuries.
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Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the Philippine government’s National Security Council, accused the Chinese coast guard of falsely saying the Philippine coast guard ships had rammed its vessels.
Video and photographs, including ones taken by journalists from a U.S. TV network who were on board one of the Philippine coast guard ships, showed that the Chinese ships caused the collisions, Malaya told a news forum in Manila.about 4 minutes in the below video shows one of the collisions
Link to video
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They need to hurry up...
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/02/philippines-confirm-that-it-will-acquire-submarines/
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A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, prompting the Filipino pilot to warn by radio: "You are flying too close, you are very dangerous."
The Chinese helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turboprop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
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Confrontations on the high seas have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the last two years at Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoal, where a grounded Philippine navy ship has served as a military territorial outpost since 1999 but has since been closely surrounded by Chinese coast guard, navy and other ships.
While most analysts believe the most likely origin of any potential military conflict between the United States and China would be an attempt by China to invade Taiwan, the escalating tension between Beijing and the Philippines is also a possible contact point, as the U.S. has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, which could mean American intervention.
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Not directly related to the Philippines, but didn't want to start a new forum thread
Planes flying between Australia and New Zealand have been diverted as China conducts a closely-scrutinised military exercise in nearby waters that may involve live fire.
The rare presence of three Chinese naval ships in the Tasman Sea has put both antipodean countries on alert in recent days, with Australia calling it "unusual".
Australian airline Qantas told the BBC it "temporarily adjusted" the routes of its planes and other carriers have reportedly done the same.China has said the exercise, which is taking place in international waters, is in accordance with international law.
