Expanding control over the strategic waterway is so much a part of Beijing's regular policy that the coronavirus pandemic does not appear to have hampered or boosted it, says Asia maritime expert Greg Poling.
DAMAGED BOAT. A fisherman walks on the shore near the fishing boat Gem-Ver on the coast of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, in June 2019. Photo by LeAnne Jazul/Rappler
Poling spoke in an online forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Manila. a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands, a clump of maritime features disputed by Vietnam and China, but not by the Philippines. Events such as these are part of a broader, ongoing trend, but they've drawn more public attention and condemnation recently because people are surprised they've carried on despite the pandemic.
Similar Chinese vessels have harassed Philippine resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded warship that has been serving as a military outpost on Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal.in Recto Bank, and left its 22 Filipino crew clinging to their boat's debris for their lives until Vietnamese fishermen came and rescued them.
"It doesn't call out China. It doesn't mention anything about who did the ramming or what Beijing should do about it. It just says, we hope everybody calms down and comes back to the table," he said.
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