US-China tensions escalate after latest maritime confrontation in South China Sea

After the rearmost near-collision with a Philippines seacoast guard boat there, the United States called on China to stop its” instigative and unsafe conduct,” ratcheting up rhetoric before the Philippine chairman’s visit to the White House.

 Philippines and China continue to disaccord over disputed waters 

 Two days before President Joe Biden hosts his Philippine counterpart, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the occasion indicated China’s “importunity and intimidation” of Philippine vessels in the disputed raceway. 

Joe Biden has been seeking to ameliorate ties with Asian abettors as the US- Chinese relationship remains at a historically low point. The Philippines is of special strategic significance due to its closeness to important ocean lanes and Taiwan. 

The rearmost in a long line of maritime competitions between China and the Philippines was the close call that passed on Sunday around the Spratly islets. 

Beijing ignored a judgement from a transnational court that says its claim of sovereignty over virtually the entire South China Sea lacks legal support. 

 Close call at Sea 

After being invited to join two Philippine Coast Guard vessels on a six-day command of the aqueducts, seeing a dozen islets and reefs, AFP intelligencers were one of numerous media outlets who saw the circumstance. 

The Philippine vessels approached Alternate Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Archipelago, also called Ren’ai Jiao in China. 

 A Chinese Coast Guard boat further than twice the size of the BRP Malapascua, carrying Filipino intelligencers, sailed into its path as the boat approached the shoal. 

Lower than a kilometre(0.6 long hauls) down, on the alternate Philippine Coast Guard boat, AFP intelligencers observed the incident. 

The Chinese boat, according to the Malapascua’s commanding officer, got within 45 metres( 50 yards) of his boat, and only his quick responses averted the sword-peeled vessels from colliding with one another. 

The Philippine boats” intruded” without China’s concurrence, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, which described the incident as a” premeditated and instigative action.” 

Manila responded by asserting that” routine details in our own waters can be neither premeditated nor instigative” and that they will continue to conduct the details. 

The near-miss happened the day after Marcos hosted Qin Gang, the foreign minister of China, for accommodations in Manila to ease pressures in the strait. 

Marcos has said he’ll not allow China to violate the Philippines’ maritime sovereignty and has tended to align himself with the United States in trouble to enhance defence ties. 

Philippines expands US access 

In addition to the five formerly- being locales, the Philippines named four other military stations beforehand this month, including one close to the Spratly islets, to which US forces will have access. 

In recent weeks, the two nations also conducted their largest-ever military exercises. 

China is concerned about this change and claims that Washington is trying to alienate relations between Beijing and Manila. 

Under Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos’s autocratic precursor, US-Philippine relations were oppressively strained. 

In trouble to calm popular enterprises that the Philippines would come involved in the conflict if China raided Taiwan, Marcos revived the alliance with the US. 

According to him, he and Biden will talk about the” need to tone down the rhetoric” about the South China Sea, Taiwan, and North Korea. 

Prior to the meeting with Marcos, White House spokesman Karine Jean- Pierre stated that Biden planned to” reaffirm the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defence of the Philippines.”