Filipino envoy: Risks rising with China challenging US at sea

MANILA: The risks of a “miscalculation” and armed conflict have risen in the disputed South China Sea with a militarily stronger China now able to challenge the US, which used to be the dominant power in the strategic waterway, the Philippine envoy to China said Monday.

Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana said the balance of power was shifting with the two global powers vying for control of the waters, adding that the Philippines should not get entangled in the increasingly tense maritime rivalry.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims, and it has built seven mostly submerged reefs into islands that reportedly can be used as forward air naval bases and have been installed with a missile defense system.

The US Navy has sailed warships on “freedom of navigation” operations near the artificial islands, which China has protested as US intervention in an Asian conflict.

“Whereas before the South China Sea was dominated by the US 7th Fleet, now the Chinese navy is starting to challenge the dominance,” Sta. Romana told a news forum in Manila. “I think we will see a shift in the balance of power.” “It is not the case that the South China Sea is now a Chinese lake, not at all,” Sta. Romana said.

“Look at the US aircraft carrier, it’s still going through the South China Sea,” he added, referring to the USS Carl Vinson that recently patrolled the disputed waters and is currently on a

Philippines.

He compared the two powers to elephants fighting and trampling on the grass and said, “What we don’t want is for us to be the grass.” visit to the

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy of befriending China has worked, Sta. Romana said, citing Beijing’s decision to lift its blockade around Philippineoccupied Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippine military can now freely send new supplies to Filipino marines guarding the disputed area.

China has also allowed Filipino fishermen into another disputed area, Scarborough Shoal, after Duterte visited Beijing and raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi reportedly told Duterte, “Give me a few days, I’ll take care of this,” Sta. Romana quoted Duterte as saying about the meeting with his Chinese counterpart a few months after he won the Philippine presidency in 2016.

Duterte said in a speech late Monday that Xi promised him that China will not build any structure on Scarborough and added that the Chinese leader should be trusted because “he’s a man of honor.”

China took control of uninhabited Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philipppines after a tense standoff in 2012.

In January, China accused the US of trespassing when the guided missile destroyer USS Hopper sailed near Scarborough.

China has also relayed to Filipino officials its opposition to the Philippine military’s deployment of a Japanese-donated Beechcraft King Air patrol plane in late January to Scarborough, a Philippine official said on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly.