A long-running dispute over uninhabited reefs has brought China and the Philippines into growing conflict that could draw in the United States.
Competing claims in the strategically vital South China Sea have brought a series of maritime clashes between China and the Philippines, a U.S. ally with which Washington has a mutual defense treaty, meaning an attack on the Philippines would trigger the decades-old pact for the U.S. to defend the nation.
The U.S. has condemned what it calls China’s “escalatory and irresponsible” actions and reiterated its military commitments to the Philippines, including against any attack in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.
Gaining control of the South China Sea is about food, oil and power: An estimated one-third of global shipping passes through its waters; it is a vital fishing ground on which millions of people depend, and it contains vast oil and gas reserves beneath its seabed. Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also claim parts of the South China Sea.
In the most recent incident, the Philippine military said earlier this month that two Chinese air force jets had dropped flares in the path of a Philippine military transport plane conducting a routine patrol over the Scarborough Shoal in what Manila called “dangerous and provocative actions.” It was the first time the Philippines had complained about provocative actions by Chinese aircraft rather than Chinese ships since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president in 2022.
China countered that the Philippine plane had illegally intruded into Chinese airspace despite repeated warnings.
The U.S. and other countries have also complained about what they say are unsafe maneuvers by Chinese aircraft and vessels in the South China Sea. China accuses America of endangering Chinese national sovereignty as well as regional stability with the “close-in reconnaissance” conducted by American ships and warplanes.
The flashpoints
There are two main South China Sea flashpoints between China and the Philippines, both of which are inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but which Beijing claims as its territory. The first, the Scarborough Shoal, is an atoll that is mostly underwater but is rich in fish stocks. Chinese Coast Guard and fishing boats have occupied the area for more than a decade.
The other is the Second Thomas Shoal, where China and the Philippines have been clashing over Manila’s attempts to resupply a rusty World War II-era warship that it intentionally ran aground there in 1999 to strengthen its territorial claims. The Philippines has kept a small group of sailors on the ship, the Sierra Madre, ever since.
Tensions have flared especially over the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines runs regular resupply missions. While Beijing has generally refrained from interfering with shipments of humanitarian supplies for the Filipino sailors on the ship, it strongly objects to the shipment of construction materials that could fortify a vessel Beijing would rather see rust away.
