Last Updated: August 07, 2023, 15:07 IST
The South China Sea is seen as a powder keg and plenty of concern a miscalculation or accident may ignite a army battle. (Image: Reuters File)
Territorial tensions rise as China blocks Philippine vessels close to a stranded navy ship in South China Sea dispute. Learn concerning the battle’s origins
A crumbling World War II-era Philippine navy vessel stranded on a submerged reef within the South China Sea has lengthy been a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing of their territorial dispute over the waters.
Tensions flared once more on Saturday when the China Coast Guard allegedly blocked and fired water cannon at Philippine vessels looking for to ship meals, gas and water to Filipino troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre at Second Thomas Shoal.
AFP appears to be like at how a rusting hulk named after a Philippine mountain vary ended up on the centre of the newest diplomatic spat over the South China Sea.
– What is the Sierra Madre? –
The 100-metre (328-foot) BRP Sierra Madre vessel started its life because the US tank-landing ship USS LST-821, which served in World War II.
It was later renamed the USS Harnett County and deployed through the Vietnam War, the place it was used as a helicopter gunship base, in accordance with the United States Naval Institute.
After the warfare, it was acquired by the Philippine Navy and later renamed the BRP Sierra Madre.
– Why is it caught on a reef? –
The Philippine army intentionally grounded the BRP Sierra Madre on Second Thomas Shoal within the late Nineteen Nineties in an effort to examine the advance of China within the hotly contested waters.
The unorthodox tactic to determine Philippine presence on the shoal was in response to China’s occupation of the close by and then-uninhabited Mischief Reef, additionally claimed by Manila, a number of years earlier.
Beijing has turned Mischief Reef and different reefs and outcrops into synthetic, militarised islands to say its claims within the waters.
Second Thomas Shoal, situated within the Spratly Islands, is about 200 kilometres west of the western Philippine island of Palawan and greater than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest main landmass of Hainan island.
– What’s taking place there? –
China claims virtually all the South China Sea, which incorporates Second Thomas Shoal, and deploys a whole bunch of vessels there to patrol the waters and swarm reefs.
Beijing has ignored a 2016 worldwide courtroom ruling that its assertion has no authorized foundation.
Manila says China’s coast guard and navy vessels routinely block or shadow Philippine ships patrolling the waters.
They additionally repeatedly try to disrupt re-supply operations to the tiny Philippine garrison on Second Thomas Shoal, in accordance with Manila.
The handful of Philippine marines deployed on the BRP Sierra Madre rely upon these resupply missions to outlive their distant project.
The Philippine Coast Guard fears China will search to occupy Second Thomas Shoal if the army detachment leaves.
– Why does all this matter? –
The South China Sea is seen as a powder keg and plenty of concern a miscalculation or accident may ignite a army battle.
The Philippines is poorly armed, however the United States has stated it might defend its longtime ally within the South China Sea beneath a decades-old mutual defence pact.
The US has no territorial declare over the waters, however has persevered in conducting its personal patrols there, angering Beijing.
Washington says that is to make sure what it phrases “freedom of navigation” in the sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
RohitRohit is a News18.com journalist with a ardour for world affairs and a love for soccer. Follow him on Twitter at @heis_rohit…Read More
Source: www.news18.com
