Vantage | What China sending 200 ships to threaten Manila will add up to

In the South China Sea, Beijing remains the unapologetic bully, raising tensions, reigniting old flashpoints, and challenging regional players. This week, their target was the Philippines. China is trying to threaten them with ships. Not one or two, but as many as 200 of them! China dispatched ships to challenge Manila’s control over a disputed shoal. Beijing has sent vessels from its coast guard and militia. They are stationed near the Second Thomas Shoal. This is a submerged reef inside Spratly Island. In 1999, Manila took control of this shoal. In the 1990s, China took over the Mischief Reef. The reef was claimed by Manila, but Chinese forces ended up occupying it. Eventually, it was turned into a militarised island. The Philippine military was concerned. It had to check China’s advances. And for this, it needed some sort of permanent presence in the region. So it narrowed down to the Second Thomas Shoal. It parked a rusty warship here. It is called the Sierra Madre. Since 1999, this warship has been there, and Manila has been using it as a military base. It keeps a detachment of Marines here. The Marines watch the movement of Chinese vessels and their activities. In recent months, China has targeted this Marine detachment. Every now and then, these soldiers need supplies, stuff like food, and other amenities for survival. So Manila frequently sends ships to replenish these supplies. In recent months, China has tried to block these vessels - to stop them from reaching the Sierra Madre - and this has led to many dangerous encounters. Chinese ships have fired water cannons on resupply vessels. China’s coast guard has even rammed into them on multiple occasions. Last year, we saw dozens of such confrontations. Manila refused to engage with Beijing militarily but vowed to push back. China refuses to back down. It has sent more ships to this area, including militia boats. China says they are there for fishing, but the real purpose is not lost on the world. Gunboat diplomacy is China’s old tactic. It funds militia boats and equips them with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and water cannons. It uses them to intimidate neighbours. The presence of 200 such vessels in the vicinity of the Second Thomas Shoal is supposed to send a message to Manila and force a withdrawal. Last week, Beijing also issued this warning: “The current difficulties in China-Philippines relations are rooted in the fact that the Philippine side has betrayed trust and justice, colluded with external powers, and continued to infringe on and provoke in the South China Sea to the detriment of China’s legitimate rights and interests. We call on the Philippines to respect history, recognise reality, and refrain from following the wrong path. China is willing to resolve its differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogue and consultation, but if the Philippine side is bent on having its own way, China will resolutely counteract it,” said China’s defence ministry spokesperson, Wu Qian.

However, Manila wants to dial down tensions, and Philippine President Ferdinand Macros Junior is taking a cautious approach. He has called for a dialogue with China. At the same time, Marcos has vowed to protect his nation’s sovereignty. So a withdrawal from the Second Thomas Shoal is unlikely. Macros Junior is also roping in allies. This week, he visited Vietnam and signed a security pact with Hanoi. The pact is aimed at containing China. However, Beijing is a big adversary; it is better funded and better armed, and it is pushing back with more ships and more aggression. No country, however small, will compromise its sovereignty. So only an intensifying conflict is in sight. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .