China’s increasing aggression in the West Philippine Sea is part of a larger, worrying trend of its takeover of the South China Sea. China’s provocations are challenging seven decades of American dominance in this incredibly valuable oceanic region.
Control over this massive maritime region would afford China tremendous power over world trade. An estimated one third of all global trade passes through the South China Sea. The sea is also resource rich, containing an estimated 11 billion barrels of untapped oil, 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and considerable fish stocks.
As the United States steps back from its role as world policeman, China is gearing up for war.
Existential Threat to the Philippines
China’s incursion and intimidation in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (eez) are more than occasional incidents. Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has called the bullying an “existential issue.”
It is time to acknowledge China’s incursions into the West Philippine Sea are “a campaign of maritime occupation by a hostile, expansionist, imperial power,” wrote Ray Powell, director of maritime transparency initiative SeaLight, in a November 23 article.
The Philippines’ situation is very different from its neighbors’. No other country has suffered the massive scale of persistent, heavy-handed [People’s Republic of China] presence within its own lawful exclusive economic zone …. China is behaving like an occupation force—one which seeks to overwhelm and subdue resistance through the use of violence.
—Ray Powell
The West Philippine Sea is the name the Philippines uses for the part of the South China Sea that is inside its exclusive economic zone. Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a nation’s eez is defined as an area of the ocean extending up to 200 nautical miles immediately offshore from a country’s land coast. A country has exclusive rights to the exploration and use of those natural resources.
In July, China sent the world’s largest coast guard vessel into the Philippines’ eez. Then China ordered a fully operational aircraft carrier to sail just outside the zone. China is parading its military might, claiming the South China Sea as its own.
The Scarborough Shoal
The Scarborough Shoal, a large rock feature rich in natural resources in the West Philippine Sea, is now “completely surrounded” by Chinese ships, according to eyewitness accounts reported in September. The Scarborough Shoal is 120 nautical miles from the west coast of the Philippines, well within its exclusive economic zone. This means the Philippines has exclusive fishing and exploration rights in the area, according to international law. But China has nothing but contempt for international law and consistently violates it.
China staked its claim on the area in 2012, but allowed Filipino fishermen to continue working the Scarborough Shoal for several years. However, when a landmark ruling in 2016 ordered China to respect the Filipinos’ fishing rights in the area, China refused.
Earlier this year, China imposed another ban on Filipino fishermen in these Philippine waters and threatened to detain any who approach the shoal. Without access to their country’s resources, Filipino fishermen fear for their businesses.
The Philippine Foreign Ministry called on Beijing to “cease and desist” from its “illegal actions,” but China has continued its aggression in the region. Chinese tactics include blocking passage of Philippine boats and ramming or swarming them.
The Second Thomas Shoal
China also has a history of bullying Filipinos around the Second Thomas Shoal, another natural feature within the Philippines’ eez.
Perhaps the most graphic case of China’s bullying was on June 17, when the Chinese Coast Guard wielded axes and long knives during a violent clash with Philippine military vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal. China used military-grade lasers and water cannons to prevent the Philippines from resupplying its outpost on the shoal.
Eight Filipino men were injured, including one who had a finger severed when a Chinese vessel rammed the boat he was on. The Philippine military chief of staff denounced the aggression, saying, “Only pirates do this. Only pirates board, steal and destroy ships, equipment and belongings.”
Dominating the South China Sea
China’s occupation of the West Philippine Sea is just part of the picture. China is taking deliberate steps to intimidate and provoke sovereign nations throughout the South China Sea.
- In 2022, satellite images showed fully militarized bases China had built on artificial islands in the Spratly Islands.
- China is building missile bases on the Paracel Islands, another archipelago in the South China Sea.
- In January, China deployed warships to disputed waters near Taiwan and Japan.
- In May, China deployed military vessels to surround Taiwan in provocative war drills as “punishment” for the Taiwanese president’s anti-China inauguration speech.
- In October, 10 Vietnamese fishermen were violently assaulted by Chinese law enforcement officials, and almost 4 tons of fish were seized.
- Later in October, China conducted its first dual aircraft carrier exercise in the South China Sea, flaunting its military power.
Heading Toward War
China’s hostile takeover of Asia’s high seas is deeply concerning, and it is far from over. China has not yet achieved total supremacy of the region; many countries still sail through the South China Sea under Freedom of Navigation operations. We expect China to continue its aggression until it has full control of the South China Sea.
Deuteronomy 28 describes God’s punishment for the sins of the end-time nations of Israel, mainly the United States and Britain. (You can prove this truth by studying our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.) In verse 52, God warns Israel that its enemies will take control of vital “gates” that it once owned. These gates include sea gates—maritime choke points and trade routes. Control over these gates will be leveraged against the U.S. and Britain.
In a 2016 article titled “China Is Steering the World Toward War,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote:
Each year, $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea. That is roughly one third of the world’s maritime commerce! Since Japan’s defeat in World War ii, America has protected this vital trade route and brought peace to this part of the world. Now the American military is retreating, and other great powers are coming in to fill the vacuum. This is going to dramatically affect trade around the world, and U.S. trade especially. …
Since before the Korean War, China has had a strategy to establish a security buffer extending far from its coast and engulfing the entire South China Sea. Its current military buildup in the Paracels and the Spratlys is bringing China closer to realizing this strategy. …
China is intimidating the nations of Southeast Asia into submission to its will. It is forcing these countries to do what it wants. Everything is headed in the direction of war.
Though written eight years ago, that landmark article is more relevant than ever. Watch as China’s takeover of this region drives the world ever closer to war.
