Tag: South China Sea

Philippines, US simulate mock invasions in largest ever war games | Military News

Laoag, Philippines – Troops from the United States and the Philippines have launched Javelin missiles and fired howitzers to simulate repelling a maritime invasion along the coast of the South China Sea, in a show of force capping joint war games held in China’s maritime back yard.

The live fire exercises were held throughout the week along the shores of the coastal city of Laoag in northern Ilocos province, the closest mainland Philippine province to China.

They capped the largest ever Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder,” joint military exercises between US and Philippine troops, cementing a dramatic policy shift that has seen Washington and Manila become close allies since Ferdinand Marcos Jr became president in 2022.

Tensions have risen amid multiple confrontations between Philippine vessels and the China Coast Guard in the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire area under its nine-dash line, which was rejected by an international tribunal in 2016.

While the US and Philippine militaries would not name their adversaries, this year’s exercises were concentrated around the northern and western shores of the Philippines — close to the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Parts of the drills were also staged in waters outside the Philippines’ 19km (12-mile) territorial limit, and also outside Manila’s exclusive economic zone, which extends for 200 nautical miles (about 370km).

“The Philippines and US have a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” US Marines Lieutenant General Michael Cederholm, commander of the Balikatan joint task force, told reporters on Monday. “It’s grounded in the seeking of peaceful solutions.

“Make no mistake, if there can’t be a peaceful solution, we have an obligation to our countries to train together.”

Philippine army personnel fire their Autonomous Truck Mounted howitzer system (ATMOS) during this week’s Balikatan drills [Ted Aljibe/AFP]

Ilocos province lies southeast of China and just south of Taiwan, near areas of the South China Sea that would probably be at the centre of any regional conflict over the disputed waters.

The US and Philippine militaries fired missiles and used howitzer guns stationed along the shore to sink five platoons standing in for amphibious warships.

In northern Batanes, an island province just south of Taiwan, US and Philippine forces simulated the recapture of Itbayat, the country’s northernmost municipality.

The war games elicited a strong response from China, which managed to disrupt at least one live fire exercise in the South China Sea. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.

A Chinese warship and two other vessels were spotted near Itbayat as the exercises were held, the Philippine Coast Guard said on Wednesday. The ships left after the coastguard issued a challenge over the radio.

New weapons, equipment

This year’s exercises also showcased new US weapons that could be stationed in the Philippines during a conflict.

For the first time in the Asia Pacific, the US military deployed a new mid-range missile launcher, called the Typhon.

Soldiers lining up on the dunes looking out to sea. Another land mass can be seen in the distance
This year’s exercises took place in territories in the north of the Philippines [Nick Aspinwall/AL Jazeera]

From the northern Philippines, it is able to reach targets in Taiwan, along with Chinese bases and infrastructure in the South China Sea and mainland China.

It is the first such weapon deployed in the region since the US withdrew in 2019 from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that barred the development of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 2,500km.

While the Typhon system was not fired during Balikatan, its deployment now serves to identify launch sites that can be used during a conflict, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“During wartime, all you need to do is just go straight to these launch sites and you can set it up and fire immediately without further preparation,” Koh said.

The US and Philippine militaries also used a hovercraft to land a HIMARS missile system on the western island of Palawan, close to contested areas of the South China Sea.

Last year, the militaries tried and failed to land a HIMARS system at the main port of Batanes. This year, the US military upgraded the port, along with a warehouse and other military infrastructure, as part of an effort to develop functional seaports to offload equipment and troops.

“The longer you stay in the port, the more vulnerable you are,” Koh said. “When you are unloading all your equipment and your troops, that is when you are exposed essentially as a sitting duck.”

Local anxieties

Last year, Washington and Manila announced that four military bases would be added to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, allowing US troops to utilise a total of nine military sites in the Philippines for training, refuelling and other operations.

A C-Star surface-to-surface, antiship missile is fired from the BRP Jose Rizal towards a mock enemy during a maritime strike exercise this week [Armed Forces of the Philippines via AFP]

Three of those bases are in the northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela, both close to the Luzon Strait running between the Philippines and Taiwan.

The increasing presence of military troops in civilian areas has alarmed some civilians, worried their location puts them in the path of any future war between the US and China.

“We don’t have to choose between the two,” said Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province. “I do not like foreign forces in my province because I feel we could be dragged into a war which is not ours.”

Mamba has vocally opposed the development of bases in his province for US troops and is among a small yet stubborn contingent of regional and local politicians who have resisted Manila’s turn towards Washington. Marcos Jr’s predecessor Rodrigo Duterte was far closer to Beijing.

Cagayan has received substantial investment from Chinese companies, including an ongoing effort to dredge and develop an international port in the coastal town of Aparri.

The US military builds schools and distributes humanitarian aid during its yearly Balikatan exercises, but Washington has never competed dollar for dollar with the investment promises Beijing can make to local politicians.

Last month, the US and the Philippines announced a new economic investment corridor in Luzon focused on ports, railways and clean energy.

Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province, worries about the risks posed by the US military presence [Nick Aspinwall/Al Jazeera]

Such US investment would be welcome in Cagayan “if it is not military in nature”, Mamba said. “Maybe [it could be used] only by the Armed Forces of the Philippines if there’s an emergency.”

In Laoag, where live-fire exercises were held, fishermen were ordered not to sail for more than one week. The order cost some fishing boats up to $60 per day in lost income, said Arvin Mangrubang, a priest at the Laoag branch of the Iglesia Filipino Independiente church.

Some communities gave relief stipends of about $9 per day to families that are registered to vote, which Mangrubang said is hardly enough to cover the cost of the exercises to working families.

“We cannot gain anything from that,” he said. “If China reacts to these exercises, the Filipino people will suffer.”

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Philippines summons China envoy over water cannon attack in South China Sea | South China Sea News

The Philippines has protested against China’s ‘dangerous manoeuvres’ 20 times this year as tensions escalate over the disputed shoal.

The Philippines has summoned a Chinese diplomat, accusing Beijing of “harassment” and “dangerous manoeuvres” after its use of water cannon against two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in China’s deputy chief of mission Zhou Zhiyong on Thursday, two days after the incident at a disputed shoal that left a Philippine coastguard vessel and another government boat damaged.

It was the 20th protest by the Philippines against the conduct of China’s coastguard and fishing vessels this year, the ministry said. It has made 153 complaints over the past two years.

“The Philippines protested the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous manoeuvres, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of [the] China Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia,” the ministry said in a statement.

China blockaded and seized the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012.

The Philippines said the pressure in Tuesday’s water cannon incident was far more powerful than anything previously used, and that it tore or bent metal sections and equipment on the Philippine vessels.

Tensions have escalated over the Scarborough Shoal recently as the Philippines takes a more assertive approach in disputed areas while strengthening alliances with the United States and Japan.

A prime fishing patch used by several countries and close to major shipping lanes, the shoal falls inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone and is claimed by China, though no country has sovereignty over it.

China’s embassy in Manila said on Wednesday the atoll had always been China’s territory and urged the Philippines to cease infringements and provocations and not “challenge China’s resolve to defend our sovereignty”.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertions have no legal basis.

Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim the parts of the sea around their coasts.

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Philippines and China in new confrontation at Scarborough Shoal | South China Sea News

Manila says its coastguard ship was damaged after being hit by water cannon; Beijing says it ‘expelled’ Philippine boats.

The Philippines has accused China of “dangerous maneuvers and obstruction” and reinstalling a barrier at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing blockaded and seized from Manila in 2012.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said two Philippine vessels on maritime patrol encountered four China Coast Guard (CCG) ships and six vessels from its maritime militia in the area on Monday morning.

One of the ships was struck by water cannon from one of the CCG ships about 12 nautical miles (22km) from the shoal, while the other – a PCG vessel – was hit by water cannon fired from two of the CCG ships when it was about 1,000 yards (914 metres) away from the shoal, which the Philippines calls Bajo de Masinloc.

Writing on social media platform X, Tarriela said the ship’s railing and canopy were damaged.

A video accompanying the post showed water cannon hitting the port side of the boat as well as the starboard side closer to the bow.

“This damage serves as evidence of the forceful water pressure used by the China Coast Guard in their harassment of the Philippine vessels,” he wrote.

On Tuesday, Beijing claimed it had “expelled” Philippine vessels from the area, a traditional fishing ground that also provides shelter in stormy weather.

Tarriela said China had also reinstalled a barrier about 415 yards (380 metres) long across the entrance to the shoal, which lies about 220km (137 miles) off the coast of the Philippines and within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an EEZ extends some 200 nautical miles (about 370km) from a country’s coast.

China first installed the barrier last year, but the Philippines removed it in September saying it breached international maritime law.

The Philippines and China have been involved in multiple incidents in and around the disputed reef in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety under a nine-dash line that an international tribunal ruled in 2016 to be without merit.

Manila took its case to the tribunal after China seized Scarborough Shoal more than a decade ago.

China has ignored the ruling and continued to press its claim.

Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim the parts of the sea around their coasts.



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US Congress to vote on aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan: What’s the deal? | Politics

United States lawmakers are expected to vote on Saturday evening on three military aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and other allies in the Asia Pacific region.

The three bills are part of Speaker Mike Johnson’s complex strategy to get aid out to foreign allies while quelling a rebellion by hardline Republicans who would prefer to see cash spent at home on border security measures and are prepared to boot him out of his job to get their way.

For months, Johnson has rejected calls from the White House and much of Congress to allow a vote on a divisive $95bn foreign aid bill passed by the Senate back in February. Meanwhile, as extremists in his party fixate on the southern border, external conflicts have reached a tipping point.

Ukraine, which has been fending off Russia’s full-scale invasion for the past two years, is running out of ammunition. US military top commanders have warned that the country will be outgunned by 10 to one within weeks. The issue of security aid was given added urgency by Iran’s counterattack on Israel last weekend following an Israeli air strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus, with calls to help America’s top ally in the Middle East bolster its air defence systems. On Thursday night, it was reported that Iran had fired air defence batteries to shoot down three drones over Isfahan.

Feeling the pressure, the speaker has now come up with a multi-pronged approach that would see three separate votes on partitioned bills, which largely mirror the Senate-passed package, allocating $60.84bn in long-delayed aid to Ukraine, just over $26bn for Israel and about $8bn for Asia Pacific allies – Taiwan, in the main – to counter Chinese expansionism.

The stage has been set for a showdown. Here’s everything you need to know about the bills and the dynamics of the upcoming vote.

What was the problem with the first bill?

Congress has been in gridlock over aid to Ukraine for months.

Steered by presidential contender and Ukraine-aid sceptic Donald Trump, “America-first” hardliners have long complained about the billions spent on Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. They insist that any foreign aid proposals be paired with US border security reforms.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks with Major General Thomas Suelzer, adjutant general for the State of Texas, at Shelby Park during a visit to the US-Mexico border, on February 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas [Eric Gay/AP Photo]

But a resulting compromise bill bundling together border security and foreign aid tanked in February after Trump urged Senate Republicans to block it, claiming that measures cracking down on illegal crossings over the US-Mexico border, hailed by some as the tightest ever seen, weren’t strong enough. “Please blame it on me,” he said at the time.

That same month, the Senate passed an amended package without the border provisions. Johnson, himself a deeply conservative Republican right winger, immediately pledged not to bring it to the floor. Aid proposals were consequently stalled until this week when he came up with a new strategy to push separate bills.

Why the change of heart? Allison McManus, a managing director at the Center for American Progress, a DC-based liberal think tank, said Johnson had undergone “a genuine evolution”.

“Prior to becoming speaker, he was more aligned with an ideological position. But his time in the leadership role has come with a growing awareness of the benefits of US support for Ukraine,” she told Al Jazeera.

Are the new bills any different?

Not much has changed in the new-look bills.

Ukraine is still the big sticking point, Trump having denounced previous assistance as a “giveaway”. To assuage conservative concerns, the $9bn allocated to the war-torn country as economic assistance would now be in the form of “forgivable loans”, a strategy that Johnson claims has been endorsed by Trump.

Seeking to convince recalcitrant Republicans, the new package would also require the Biden administration to present lawmakers with a “multiyear” plan within 45 days of the bill being signed into law, laying out clear strategic aims in Ukraine and an estimate of the resources required.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian troops amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 15, 2024 [Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters]

When it comes to Israel, some conservatives will baulk at the $9.2bn in humanitarian aid for Gaza, which was also contained in the previous bill passed by the Senate. “That could be a potential stumbling block,” Chris Tuttle, a DC-based senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), told Al Jazeera.

Democrats demanded the aid element was necessary as a condition for their support. However, an increasing number of progressives oppose any funding that will enable Israel to pursue its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where nearly 34,000 people have been killed, thousands more are lost and feared dead under the rubble and the 2.3 million population is facing starvation and outbreaks of disease.

The reasons for breaking up the package into parts are simple, say experts. “We know there is a faction on the right that is vehemently opposed to aid for Ukraine. We also know there’s a growing faction on the left that is opposed to continuing aid to Israel,” said McManus.

“Together those two factions presented enough opposition to block it from moving forward. If you separate them, then you have small factions that are easier to overcome.”

What’s in the different aid bills?

Ukraine

The first new funding approved by Congress since Republicans took control of the House in early 2023, it would give Ukraine $60.84bn to fend off Russia’s invasion, bringing total US investment in the conflict to $170bn, if passed.

Funding includes:

  • $23.2bn for replenishing US weapons, stocks and facilities
  • $11.3bn for US training of Ukrainian troops
  • $13.8bn for the purchase of advanced weapons systems
  • $26m for “oversight and accountability” of aid to Ukraine
  • $9bn in repayable economic assistance

Israel

The bill would allocate $26.38bn to “support Israel in its effort to defend itself against Iran and its proxies”, as well as reimbursing US military operations in response to recent attacks.

It stipulates that funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA is prohibited. Last month, Congress approved a funding bill banning assistance for the United Nations agency until 2025, following Israeli allegations – reportedly obtained under torture – that employees participated in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Funding includes:

  • $5.2bn to replenish and expand Israel’s missile and rocket defence system
  • $3.5bn for purchasing advanced weapons systems
  • $1bn to enhance weapons production
  • $4.4bn for other supplies and services to Israel
  • $9.2bn in humanitarian aid
Palestinians living in Nuseirat refugee camp collect usable items among the rubble of destroyed buildings after Israel’s withdrawal from the camp in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, on April 18, 2024 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Asia Pacific

The smallest of the three bills would provide $8.12bn for Asia Pacific allies “to counter communist China and ensure a strong deterrence in the region”.

Funding includes:

  • $3.3bn for developing submarine infrastructure
  • $2bn in foreign military financing for Taiwan and other allies

A fourth bill, which will be voted on the same day, contains separate foreign policy proposals on seizing Russian assets, forcing a sale of the social media platform, TikTok (because of worries that the Chinese government may be able to access information about its US users) and imposing sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organisations that traffic the drug, fentanyl.

How have lawmakers responded to the proposed bills?

The right-wing US Representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who last month filed a so-called “motion to vacate” to remove Johnson from his post – the same mechanism that felled his predecessor Kevin McCarthy – accused Johnson of failing to pursue a Republican agenda and of being “tossed around the room like some kind of party toy”.

Posting on X, the US Representative for Virginia’s fifth congressional district, Bob Good, also chair of the far-right congressional bloc, the House Freedom Caucus, called for “every true conservative” to vote against the rule for this borrowed foreign aid bill with no border security” [The quote ends at security — where does it begin?].

US Representative for Texas’s 21st congressional district, Chip Roy, also policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said on X that he was “sorry not sorry for opposing a crappy rule that is a show vote / cover vote for funding Ukraine instead of border security”.

“The Republican Speaker of the House is seeking a rule to pass almost $100bn in foreign aid – while unquestionably, dangerous criminals, terrorists [and] fentanyl pour across our border,” he said in a separate post.

Desperate to rally the divided party, which has a slim 218 to 213 majority in Congress, Johnson’s office has been trumpeting support from Republican governors and conservative and religious leaders.

“Enough is enough,” said Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on social media, urging House Republicans to do their “job and vote on the important issues facing our nation” instead of “bickering amongst themselves”.

Will the bills pass?

Johnson’s fate seems tied to that of his foreign aid bills.

Without the backing of all his party, the speaker will be dependent on votes from Democrats as he executes his plan to form unique voting blocs on each separate bill before sewing the lot back together again for Senate approval.

Given his increasingly precarious position, commentators say it is in his interests to keep those Democrats on side. “He’s making a wager that if he is able to push bills that Democrats are in favour of, then this might give him some goodwill,” said McManus.

Meanwhile, Greene has been dangling the threat of Johnson’s removal ahead of the vote, saying she doesn’t mind if “Speaker’s office becomes a revolving door” – it’s been little more than six months since his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was removed in a spectacular takedown that left Republicans winded.

But Democrats like New York’s Hakeem Jeffries and Florida’s Jared Moskowitz have suggested they would help Johnson if his own party moves against him for holding the votes.

“The Democrats are saying: ‘You know, I’m willing to vote to retain him, even though he’s not in my party because he had the courage to do the right thing’,” said CFR’s Tuttle.



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Marcos Jr treads fine line with China as Philippines deepens US, Japan ties | Business and Economy News

Manila, Philippines – Against a backdrop of rising tension in the South China Sea between Beijing and Manila, the leaders of Japan, the Philippines and the United States have forged an unprecedented level of cooperation to counter China.

But while US President Joe Biden and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have stressed the security aspects of their cooperation, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has highlighted its potential economic rewards, touting the partnership with promised investments of some $100bn as a friendship with benefits.

At the televised opening of the summit on April 11, Biden told the other two leaders: “I want to be clear. The United States’ defence commitments to Japan and the Philippines are ironclad. Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea will invoke our Mutual Defence Treaty.”

Only afterwards did Biden discuss how the US government would help the Philippines develop key economic areas such as its semiconductor supply chain, and telecommunications and critical infrastructure including ports, railways and agriculture.

In Manila, though, the Presidential Communications Office downplayed the security aspect of the concluded summit, which had expressed “serious concerns  about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) dangerous and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea”.

Instead, its news releases dwelt on US and Japan’s expressions of a “strong commitment of support for the economic prosperity of the Philippines”.

Financial analysts told Al Jazeera that while Washington has intertwined its promised economic development with Manila’s security commitments, Manila had chosen to highlight the economic gains to mask a sobering reality – that the country could be dragged into a military conflict with China.

“Marcos needs to sell [this] to Filipinos,” financial analyst Jonathan Ravelas told Al Jazeera on Friday.

“This is bitter medicine but I’m sugarcoating it, so it’s easily digestible,” Ravelas explained of the president’s approach.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the trilateral summit in the White House [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Besides, if he focused on the security angle, “he might p*** off China,” added the managing director of e-Management for business and marketing services and retired chief market strategist of the Philippines’ largest bank, BDO.

Semiconductor push

Ravelas argues that Marcos Jr, like previous presidents, is keen to turn the country into a manufacturing and logistics hub. “We are geographically located to be part of the supply chain in ASEAN,” being within only three hours by air from regional countries Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, he noted.

The summit announced the formation of the first-ever Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment corridor in the Asia Pacific, called the Luzon Economic Corridor. It will connect Manila to three sprawling areas in the country’s biggest island, Luzon, which can host manufacturers and other large business ventures: the US’s former Subic naval base, the former Clark airbase and Batangas province.

Ravelas noted that US semiconductor manufacturers were looking to diversify their locations and the young workforce made the Philippines a viable alternative.

The US, noted political economist Sonny Africa, has a military agenda and an economic agenda. “In both, the Philippines apparently plays an important part,” Africa, executive director of the socioeconomic think tank, Ibon Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

“Presumably, the alliance will be played up to have both security benefits and economic benefits. While it’s somewhat clear that the country plays a role in security-related moves against China, we feel the alliance is also serious in exploring the Philippines’ role in, for instance, being a location for segments of the semiconductor production, but also as a source of nickel which is essential for so much renewable energy technology. This is the direction of the US to attain domestic energy security,” he said.

On the home front, “the economic  benefits will be played up to sweeten deepening Philippine entanglement in the US’s militarist agenda, especially versus China,” he said.

Still, he recognised that the economic aspects of the agreement were not merely “token sugarcoating” but also part of Washington’s “core agenda”.

“[The] US is genuinely out to build semiconductor production chains that are less China and Taiwan-centric and hence, less vulnerable and more resilient (to) conflict-related or other disruptions,” he said. “Similarly, the Philippines has among (the) world’s biggest reserves of nickel which is a critical element in batteries and other renewable technologies.”

Both countries are betting heavily on the Philippines to protect their business interests, amid rising regional tensions over the disputed South China Sea, a key international shipping route.

“Keeping the freedom of navigation will continue to allow the ease of trade not just in our region but globally,” said Ron Acoba, the chief investment strategist and co-founder of Trading Edge, a third-party research provider for local banks and brokerage firms.

The Philippines sits in a strategic position in the South China Sea which “functions as the throat of the Western Pacific and Indian oceans,” according to the Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs, a private research think tank in Manila.

China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea through which “more than half of the world’s annual merchant fleet tonnage passes through these choke points, and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide,” according to the the institute.

It calculates about two-thirds of South Korea’s energy supplies, nearly 60 percent of Japan’s and Taiwan’s energy supplies, and 80 percent of China’s crude oil imports travel through the waters that are also claimed in part by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

China’s claim to the sea, based on the nine-dash line that was rejected by an international court in 2016, extends over large swaths of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including fishing grounds and potentially vast reserves of oil and gas deposits.

China has blocked all attempts by Manila to exploit the reserves. Under international law, an EEZ extends for 200 nautical miles (370km) beyond a country’s territorial sea and affords them jurisdictional rights over all natural resources.

“Politically speaking, it is correct to highlight the economic significance of the trilateral summit among the US, Japan and the Philippines,” Acoba said.

“But if you ask me, the main agenda really is to send a ‘message’’ to China, that the country is keen in upholding our rights.  And that contrary to the prior administration, we are going in the direction of not just upholding but even enforcing our rights.”

Changing dynamic

For Harry Roque, the former spokesman for Marcos Jr’s predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, the pivot back to the US is a big mistake.

He blamed the about-turn for a drop in investments from China.

China’s foreign investments of nearly $20bn rose 37 percent in Asia in 2023 – with half of it going to Southeast Asia – but a report last month in the Japanese media outlet Nikkei said that the Philippines saw no new investment or construction projects at all from China.

The decline came even though Marcos Jr had visited Beijing in January 2023 and the presidential palace claimed he had secured “investment pledges” of $22.8bn.

“Of course, each president to his own,” Roque told Al Jazeera. “If the president wants this kind of policy, this is the kind of relations we have with China. But overall the policy of President Duterte was, let’s move forward on matters that we could on trade and investment and set aside matters that we could not resolve in this lifetime.

“No Chinese (businessman) will invest now because I know for a fact that many Chinese who intend to invest have put it aside already because they fear that their investments might be confiscated given the hostile environment,” he said.

“So no one from China will touch the Philippines as far as capital is concerned,” he said.

The USS Mobile in joint drills with Australia, Japan and the Philippines earlier this month [Leo Baumgartner/Australian Department of Defence via AFP]

After the Washington, DC summit, Marcos Jr said he was confident that the deals with the US and Japan would not undermine Chinese investment.

The three leaders had earlier expressed “serious concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) dangerous and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea”, and Marcos Jr stressed the trilateral relationships would “change the dynamic” in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea.

Still, he sought to reassure Beijing, saying the action was “not against any country”.

After a series of confrontations with the Chinese coastguard, mostly around the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, it seems most Filipinos agree that it is time for the Philippines to assert its maritime rights with the help of the US and Japan.

The shoal, where the Philippines grounded the naval ship Sierra Madre in 1999, lies about 200km (124 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000km (620 miles) from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

Private pollster Pulse Asia revealed that in a December 2023 survey of 1,200 respondents,  79 percent wanted Marcos to work with the US to deter Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

Only 10 percent wanted his government to work with China to resolve the tension.

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Japan, Philippines, US rebuke China over ‘dangerous’ South China Sea moves | Politics News

Meeting in Washington, DC, the leaders of Japan, the Philippines and the US stress importance of abiding by maritime law.

The leaders of Japan, the Philippines and the United States have voiced “serious concern” over China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Beijing has stepped up its activities in the strategic waterway in recent years, and tensions have risen, particularly with the Philippines, one of several Southeast Asian countries that claim the parts of the sea around their coasts.

Last month, Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos said Manila would take countermeasures against China after a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal injured Filipino soldiers and damaged vessels.

“We express our serious concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s [PRC] dangerous and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea,” the three leaders said in a joint statement at the end of a first-ever summit between the three countries, which took place in Washington, DC.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea under its so-called nine-dash line, which was rejected by an international court in 2016.

As well as the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim parts of the sea.

The statement noted the “importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their exclusive economic zones [EEZ] consistent with international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS]”.

It also reiterated the three state’s opposition to China’s “dangerous and coercive use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea”.

Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin in the Philippines, has been the site of multiple standoffs between Beijing and Manila in recent months, with China’s coastguard using water cannon against ships trying to resupply a contingent of Filipino sailors living aboard the deliberately grounded Sierra Madre.

The shoal lies about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan, placing it within the Philippines’ EEZ, according to UNCLOS.

It lies more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) from China’s southern Hainan island.

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Biden, Japan leader Kishida announce stronger defence ties in state visit | South China Sea News

United States President Joe Biden has welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White House, with an upgrade in defence ties topping the agenda.

The meeting is only the fifth official state visit of Biden’s presidency, with the lavish events typically reserved for only the most formidable of US allies.

Moreover, the visits underscore an administration’s strategic priorities, with three of the four previous state dinners – South Korea, India and Australia – emphasising the Indo-Pacific region to counter what US officials describe as China’s increased military and economic assertiveness.

Beijing also loomed large on Wednesday, in a visit that began with Biden welcoming Kishida on the South Lawn of the White House. Biden hailed the “unbreakable” partnership between Japan and the US as “a cornerstone of peace, security, prosperity, in the Indo-Pacific and around the world”.

Kishida referenced the iconic cherry blossom trees that typically bloom in Washington, DC in spring, and were first gifted to the US by Japan in 1912.

“I am confident that the cherry blossom-like bond of the Japan-US alliance will continue to grow even thicker and stronger in the Indo-Pacific and in all corners of the world,” Kishida said.

The two men went on to discuss as many as 70 cooperation agreements in defence, space and technology during a meeting in the oval office, according to officials who previewed the event.

At a joint press conference, Biden announced what he described as the most significant upgrade in military ties since the alliance between the two countries began.

He said the countries would modernise their military command and control structures in Japan to increase interoperability and planning. He also said that Japan, Australia and the US will create a network of air missiles and defence architecture, in the latest move to increase coordination of allies in the region.

The US has about 38,000 troops stationed in Japan, with another 11,000 on US vessels in Japanese waters.

The move is the latest by the US to increase cooperation with key allies in the region.

Beyond strengthening the so-called Quad strategic grouping, which includes the US, India, South Korea and Australia, the Biden administration has also created the so-called AUKUS security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom, which is helping Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

The leaders of the US, Japan and the Philippines – another key US ally in the region – are also set to hold a first-of-its-kind trilateral meeting on Thursday.

For its part, Beijing has repeatedly accused Washington of “Cold War thinking” that has ratcheted up tensions. Nevertheless, both Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have shown a willingness to engage diplomatically in recent times, with the two leaders holding a call earlier this month, their first direct communication since November.

The White House also announced on Wednesday a plan for Japan to join future US space missions, with Biden promising that a Japanese astronaut “will become the first non-American ever to land on the Moon”.

The two countries also announced a joint partnership to accelerate the development and commercialisation of nuclear fusion, an extremely high-yield, low waste form of energy production that scientists have been trying to harness for decades.

Speaking at the news conference, Kishida said that he and Biden had also discussed North Korea, which has continued to test more powerful missiles in recent years, as well as security in the Taiwan Strait, the waterway off of the self-governing island that China claims as its own.

He drew a direct link between Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns in the Indo Pacific region.

“Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion is absolutely unacceptable, wherever it may be,” Kishida said.

“Regarding Russia’s aggression of Ukraine … Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” Kishida said.

When asked about a planned $15bn acquisition of the US steelmaker US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, which both Biden and former President Donald Trump have criticised, Kishida said he hoped to cement a “win-win relationship”.

In the evening, Biden was scheduled to host Kishida at an opulent state dinner, with the State Floor of the White House transformed into a “vibrant spring garden;” First Lady Jill Biden is responsible for the event’s planning.

The meal served by White House chefs will include house-cured salmon, aged rib eye with wasabi sauce, and salted caramel pistachio cake with cherry ice cream.

After dinner, singer-songwriter Paul Simon will perform. Kishida is the first Japanese leader to be invited for an official state visit since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.

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Philippines beefs up defences on its northernmost edge amid China tensions | South China Sea News

This is the first in a two-part series from the Philippines’s most northerly province.

Mavulis Island, Philippines – The military detachment on the Philippines’s northernmost island faces northwest, towards the setting sun – and the country’s biggest potential adversary.

The island of Mavulis was uninhabited until 2016, when the Philippine military planted a flagpole at its highest point and started building a fisherman’s shelter.

Now, about 15 soldiers are deployed in rotation on the rocky outpost, amid increasing tension with Beijing over the disputed South China Sea and Beijing’s growing assertiveness towards Taiwan – which lies just 142km (88 miles) away and whose lights flicker in the distance during the night.

In February, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro visited Mavulis and pledged further improvements to military positions in Batanes, the province that includes the island, which he called the “spearhead of the Philippines”.

With the Philippines’s lightly-funded military reliant on only basic equipment and technology to fortify the island, the United States is providing crucial assistance.

Its military will begin constructing a new warehouse, a military outpost and port improvements this month on the islands of Batan and Itbayat, according to several sources.

The two countries will also hold joint military exercises on Batan and, for the first time, on Itbayat, the country’s northernmost municipality, as part of the annual Balikatan drills, which get under way on April 22.

The Philippines has turned towards its longstanding military alliance with the US after multiple confrontations with China in the waters of the South China Sea.

Manila and Washington have a mutual defence treaty and the US is concerned not only about the South China Sea, a major international trading route, but also Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing.

“We need to upgrade our defence posture,” Rodrigo Lutao, public information officer for the army’s Northern Luzon Command, which also covers Batanes, told Al Jazeera.

“We’ve realised the islands of Batanes, especially Mavulis, are strategic areas where we can place our forces and defence materials.”

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Philippines flags ‘harassment’ by Chinese vessels ahead of Japan, US drills | South China Sea News

Recent clashes between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have raised concerns of a maritime escalation.

The Philippines has said that two Chinese coastguard ships “harassed” Filipino fishing vessels within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the disputed South China Sea, ahead of joint military drills with its allies.

The coastguard vessels “went as far as pretending to man their water cannon and threatening the Filipino fishermen” in the Iroquois reef on April 4, Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard posted on X on Saturday.

“This aggressive action stems from China’s greed and unfounded claim that these waters belong to them based on their imaginary dashed line,” Tarriela wrote in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from China, which claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea.

“It is important to note that Rozul Reef falls within the Philippines’ EEZ since it is located at approximately 128 nautical miles away from Palawan,” Tarriela added, referring to the reef by its Filipino name. The Philippines also refers to the area of the South China Sea within its EEZ as the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines and China have reported several maritime run-ins in recent months, which included the use of water cannon. The two countries have long faced off near the disputed reefs in the vast and resource-rich sea lane.

Since taking power in 2022, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has pursued warmer ties with the United States and other Western nations and adopted a tough line against what he sees as Chinese hostility.

He said last month that the Philippines will take countermeasures against China after the latest confrontation injured Filipino soldiers and damaged vessels.

On Sunday, the Philippines will host joint naval and air drills with the US, Japan and Australia in the disputed area, as it seeks to deepen ties with its allies to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the participating defence chiefs of the four countries said the drill would demonstrate their “collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

Next week, US President Joe Biden is due to hold the first trilateral summit with Marcos Jr and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington, DC.

The drills will include naval and air force units from all four countries, the statement said, but did not provide further details.

Japan’s embassy in Manila said that “anti-submarine warfare training” would be included in the exercises.

China has blamed the Philippines for raising tensions in the contested waterway.

Top US officials have repeatedly declared the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to defending the Philippines against an armed attack in the South China Sea.

“These activities with our allies Australia, Japan, and the Philippines underscore our shared commitment to ensuring that all countries are free to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

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Philippines’s Marcos promises measures after China’s ‘dangerous attacks’ | South China Sea News

President says country will respond to South China Sea confrontations with proportionate measures after Filipino soldiers injured.

President Ferdinand Marcos says the Philippines will take countermeasures against China after confrontations in the South China Sea last week injured Filipino soldiers and damaged vessels.

“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience,” Marcos said in a statement on Thursday.

He said the Philippines would respond with a “countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks by agents of the China Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia”.

He added: “Filipinos do not yield.”

Marcos’s remarks came as China blamed Philippine actions for recent rising tensions between the countries in the hotly contested waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely.

The two countries have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and there have been repeated confrontations between their vessels near disputed reefs in recent months.

Chinese envoy summoned

The latest incident near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands occurred on Saturday during a regular Philippine mission to resupply Filipino troops garrisoned on the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded navy ship.

The Philippines said the Chinese coastguard blocked its supply vessel and damaged it with water cannon, injuring three soldiers. It summoned a Chinese envoy in response.

China’s coastguard has defended its actions, describing them as “lawful regulation, interception and expulsion” of a foreign vessel that “tried to forcefully intrude” into Chinese waters.

China has urged Manila to “pull back from the brink” and stop “provoking trouble at sea”.

In a statement on Thursday titled China Will Not Allow the Philippines to Act Wilfully, Beijing’s Ministry of National Defence blamed “the provocations by the Philippine side” for the increased tensions over the South China Sea.

“Relying on the backing of external forces … the Philippine side has frequently infringed on rights and provoked and created trouble at sea, as well as spreading false information to mislead the international community’s perception of the issue, which is, so to speak, going further and further down a dangerous road,” the statement added.

US support

The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has led a chorus of support for the Southeast Asian country in response to Chinese actions.

Marcos said the international community had “offered to help us on what the Philippines requires to protect and secure our sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction while ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific”.

“I have given them our requirements and we have been assured that they will be addressed,” he said without providing details.

His statement also came after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin repeated the “ironclad” US commitment to its longtime ally in a call with his Filipino counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, on Wednesday.

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