Philippines moving boldly into infrastructural power play
IT HAD been, for a time, a mission aborted for a coalition of civic groups that sought to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino fishermen and other civilians in Philippine-occupied features in the South China Sea.
Its 40-boat convoy was forced to change course on the night of Dec. 10 after leaders said they had been shadowed by Chinese vessels on their way to Lawak Island, which China calls Nanshan, in the disputed Spratly Islands.
But to the surprise of many on board as well as journalists awaiting updates in Manila, a smaller boat had veered away from the direction of the lead supply ship, which was bound to return to the province of Palawan with the rest of the small boats, and managed to slip past the gigantic vessels of China which, in recent months, has been blocking the resupply missions of the Philippine government.
The Dec. 10 incident involving Filipino civilians and Chinese state forces, which followed two separate water cannon attacks of the Chinese coast guard against Philippine government vessels, is just a microcosm of both the challenges and opportunities facing Manila’s bid to modernize its infrastructure and build new ones within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, according to experts.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE RACE
“There is a brewing race among claimants to build infrastructure in their occupied features to consolidate control and beef up their claim for effective jurisdiction,” Lucio B. Pitlo III, a research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, told BusinessWorld in a Messenger chat.
Mr. Pitlo said the Philippines should consider building more wharves and ports to house ferries and coast guard vessels in the Kalayaan Island Group to improve logistics and response times during emergencies.
“Manila should not be left out in this infrastructure build-up in the flashpoint,” he said, pointing out that not only China is moving into the many maritime features in the South China Sea.
For the Philippines, the main barrier to pursuing massive infrastructure development in the West Philippine Sea is China’s interference as demonstrated by its ongoing illegal blockade of Second Thomas Shoal, said Raymond M. Powell, a fellow at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.