Tag: Second Thomas Shoal

China sending huge force in Scarborough ahead of civilian mission

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Atin Ito Coalition has connections to groups that have been funded by Oxfam International, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the European Union, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Friedrich Ebert Foundation), and the National Endowment for Democracy. Find more information here.

China sending huge force in Scarborough ahead of civilian mission

“China is sending a huge force to blockade Scarborough Shoal ahead of the Atin Ito civilian convoy setting sail from the Philippines Tuesday,” Powell, who heads the program of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation that tracks Chinese maritime activities in the West Philippine Sea, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

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China seized Scarborough Shoal’s lagoon in 2012 after a CCG standoff with Philippine vessels.

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CRUSH THE PHILIPPINES

Ms. Cat

CRUSH THE PHILIPPINES

April 28, 2024 by Mauro Gia Samonte

BRIGHT as the sun shines, this is what will happen in our country when the war that the United States has planned to detonate in the Philippines since 2014 breaks out. In the said year, America planned the war in Ukraine. It came true. In the same year, America planned Israel’s war against Hamas. It came true. The parallel plan made in the Philippines by America is what is contained in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) obtained by the United States (US) in the administration of Benigno Aquino III in 2014. Under the agreement, the US was granted five military base of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to deploy American troops and military equipment that is unlimited in number and cannot be inspected by the Philippine authorities. Entering 2023, the five EDCA bases were increased by Bongbong by four more, which really boiled the tension in the South China Sea. China could not hide its simmering anger.

“Don’t be an idol in America,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned the Philippines.

Although the agreement states that nuclear weapons cannot be deployed at EDCA bases, the Philippine authorities have no way to ensure that this will be followed because of the EDCA provision that such American deployments cannot be inspected by the Filipino authority. Based on the double (treasonous) American face in world politics, it can be expected that at the EDCA bases nuclear weapons are already present and deployed, ready to be launched at any time needed.

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China gathers naval leaders worldwide to discuss maritime security while US conducts drills to ‘destabilize S. China Sea’

Ms. Cat

US and Philippines launch Balikatan joint military drills in South China Sea

This year’s staging of Balikatan, the allies’ largest annual military drill, will include a joint sail in the disputed South China Sea outside the Philippines’ territorial waters. The French navy, a first-time Balikatan participant, and the Australian navy will also join the manoeuvres.

While the US and the Philippines resumed joint naval patrols in the area last year, and the US has in the past sailed there with other allies and partners, it will be the first time that the Balikatan drills have extended beyond 12 nautical miles off the Philippine coast and into waters claimed by China.

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Six Philippine coast guard vessels will also participate in the drill, the first time the service — which has been at the forefront of frequent clashes with China over the past year — has been included in a military exercise.

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Another closely watched component of the drills will be the Strategic Mid-Range Fires missile system, known as Typhon, which has a range of up to 2,500km. The US Army airlifted the system to the Philippines this month, the first such deployment in the Indo-Pacific. Intermediate-range ground-launched missiles had been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, but the pact collapsed in 2019 after both the US and Russia left it.

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Troops will also practise tracking and targeting air and missile threats, retaking enemy-occupied islands in the Philippines’ far north, just south of Taiwan, and sinking a ship off the coast facing the South China Sea, expanding on drills last year.

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The exercise coincides with an annual conference by China’s Navy, which will be attended by senior military officers including from the US. It also comes as US secretary of state Antony Blinken is heading to China on Wednesday in the two countries’ latest effort to manage tense relations.

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China gathers naval leaders worldwide to discuss maritime security while US conducts drills to ‘destabilize S. China Sea

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South China Sea: InfoOp Podcast (ASEAN)

Ms. Cat
YouTube

Clip from Episode 1 of Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? Podcast (Apple Podcasts) with Ray Powell and Jim Carouso. 

Powell and Carouso worked together at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia. They’re trying to “shape” the Indo-Pacific for US corporate interests and to provoke a war with China.  

Jim Carouso is currently with the Center for Strategic & International Studies. CSIS is funded by various governments, including the United States, and corporations. Carouso is also with BowerGroupAsia in Singapore (They have financial interests in the South China Sea, which I will update about soon). He formerly worked in the State Department and was a chargé d’ affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra and the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Ray Powell was formerly a Defense Attaché in Canberra, Australia.

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The Defense Attaché System is part of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

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More on SeaLight’s (formerly Project Myoushu) ‘assertive transparency’ campaign.

Previously:

SCS: The Office of Naval Research funded Stanford’s GKC

Philippines’ ‘assertive transparency’ strategy is causing them to miss out economically

PH: Compared To China, US Trade, Investment Offers Laughable + More

China exposes Philippines’ reneging on South China Sea commitment

Ms. Cat
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China exposes Philippines’ reneging on South China Sea commitment

Wang pointed out that the Philippines has made a solemn promise to tow away the military vessel illegally grounded at Ren’ai Jiao, noting that 25 years have passed, and the Philippines has still not towed away the warship.

Noting that the Philippines has violated the understanding reached between the two sides on the proper management of the situation on Ren’ai jiao, the spokesperson said despite the Philippines’ commitment not to reinforce the grounded warship and to notify China in advance of any plans to resupply it, China, out of humanitarian considerations, has made temporary special arrangements for Philippine vessels transporting necessary supplies to the warship multiple times.

“However, the Philippines continues to send government vessels and warships to forcibly enter Ren’ai Jiao, attempting to transport construction materials for large-scale repairs and reinforcement of the warship in order to achieve permanent occupation of Ren’ai Jiao,” Wang said.

PH did promise to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin

Philippines Budgets for a Permanent Base at Second Thomas Shoal

It’s Time to Build Combined Forward Operating Base Sierra Madre

Manila escalates South China Sea row as it continues trick of ‘playing victim’ + More

Ms. Cat
Full video

Manila escalates South China Sea row as it continues trick of ‘playing victim’

According to experts, Marcos’ tough words serve domestic political purposes when he needs to shift Filipinos’ discontent over his administration’s performance on livelihood and the economy, and are also a response to the “support” from countries outside the region, including the US. 

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“The US is the biggest external disturbance to peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Ding said, “without instigation from US, it is more likely that China and the Philippines would manage their differences through negotiation and consultation.”

Related:

The facts and truth about Ren’ai Jiao

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China blames Philippines for ship collision in waters near Ren’ai Jiao + Notes

Ms. Cat
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China on Tuesday accused the Philippines of deliberately ramming a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel in disregard of China’s repeated warnings, as four Philippine vessels illegally entered the waters adjacent to the Ren’ai Jiao of China’s Nansha Qundao.

CCG spokesman Gan Yu made the remark after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said one of its ships was damaged on Tuesday in a collision with a CCG vessel and four Filipino crew were injured. 

China blames Philippines for ship collision in waters near Ren’ai Jiao

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The Philippines has been chartering civilian vessels for their resupply missions.

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A Philippine civilian boat, escorted by two navy ships and two coast guard vessels, was on a monthly supply run to a small number of Filipino marines stationed on the ‘Sierra Madre’ – a warship intentionally run aground on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 in order to reinforce The Philippines’ territorial claims in the area.

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I suspect that this incident was staged. Powell, from the DoD-funded Stanford GKC’s SeaLight (Project Myoushu), said that it was the same vessel that was damaged last time. FYI, I clipped this video before he started talking about the upcoming US-Philippine-Japan meeting to ‘strengthen military ties’.

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Powell whining, on X, for ‘international support’.

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