Extremely dangerous moment in South China (West Philippine) Sea

WHEN China sureptitiously took Panatag shoal (Scarborough shoal) from an unsuspecting and naïve Aquino administration in 2012, few suspected that the stealthy Chinese maneuver would set off a series of events and developments that would turn the shoal into a flashpoint for a major-power confrontation in the Asia-Pacific.

Tension has been building up these past few years in the South China Sea, because of China’s unilateral claim to sovereignty over nearly all of the international waters, which are a vital passageway for global trade and parts of which are also claimed by Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, as part of their exclusive economic zones under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).