Tensions over the resource-rich region are intensifying as China attempts to cut access for nations with competing claims, such as the Philippines

Shaky camera footage, a member of the Philippine coast guard can be seen dipping below the waters of South China Sea, ready to carry out the instructions of the country’s president. “Just cut it off,” says a voice in the background and the coast guard, posing as a fisher in a snorkel, proceeds to hack away at a piece of rope.

The video, taken on Monday near the fiercely contested Scarborough Shoal, shows the Philippines’ mission to remove what it described as a hazardous floating barrier installed by China’s coast guard. It had been erected to cut off access to Philippine boats, the Philippine coast guard alleged, accusing their counterparts of violating international law. China has defended its actions as “professional and restrained”.

 

The episode was the latest in an intensifying dispute over the South China Sea – a row that, were it to escalate, could bring the US, a Philippine ally, into confrontation with its rival, China.

Manila has, over the past year, repeatedly accused Beijing of dangerous and aggressive tactics in the South China Sea, including allegations that China directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine vessel and that it aimed water cannon at Philippine boats as they travelled within their country’s exclusive economic zone.

“The risk [of] miscalculation is getting higher because of China’s escalation,” says Jay L Batongbacal, a lawyer and professor at the University of the Philippines.

Beijing has rejected the notion that it is an aggressor and has said it supports dialogue with the Philippines. Last month, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, accused the US of provoking conflict between Beijing and Manila, saying it had “disrupted the peace and tranquillity of the South China Sea, to serve the United States’ own geopolitical strategy”.

 

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Perhaps they are hoping for an opportunity to take more aggressive actions.

Would not be the first time or the only country to do so.

This is going to result in closer cooperation among Vietnam, Australia, the Phillipines, and the US.