Philippines Summons Chinese Envoy over Sea Confrontations

Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
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Philippines Summons Chinese Envoy over Sea Confrontations

Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP

The Philippines said it had summoned China's envoy on Monday and flagged the possibility of expelling him following the most tense confrontations between the countries' vessels in years at flashpoint reefs in the disputed South China Sea.
Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed Chinese ships blasting water cannon at Philippine boats during two separate resupply missions to fishermen at Scarborough Shoal and a tiny garrison at Second Thomas Shoal on Saturday and Sunday.
There was also a collision between Philippine and Chinese boats at Second Thomas Shoal, where a handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a grounded warship, with both countries trading blame.
Diplomatic protests had been filed and "the Chinese ambassador has also been summoned", foreign ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza told a news conference on Monday.
Daza said declaring China's ambassador Huang Xilian as "persona non grata" in the Philippines was also "something that has to be seriously considered".
China's ramming and water cannoning of Filipino boats as well as the use of a long-range acoustic device was a "serious escalation" of their tactics, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, told reporters.
The China Coast Guard, however, said one of the Philippine supply boats deliberately hit its vessel after "disregarding our multiple stern warnings".
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the shores of its neighbors, and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis.
It deploys boats to patrol the busy waterway and has built artificial islands that it has militarized to reinforce its claims.
- 'Dangerous and destabilizing' -
On Sunday, the US State Department called on China to halt its "dangerous and destabilizing" actions in the sea, while foreign diplomats in Manila also criticized China's behavior.
The confrontations at Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal were the most intense between Philippine and Chinese vessels in years, analysts said, as the countries seek to assert their competing maritime territorial claims.
"I expect that this will become even more frequent and persistent," said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines' Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.
"We should use the opportunity to build up our alliances and partnerships, and to prepare for the worst as it is clear that they will continue to deprive us of access to our rights and resources as a country," Batongbacal told AFP.
Song Zhongping, an analyst and former officer in the Chinese military, said US support for the Philippines was making Manila feel "emboldened to provoke China", which was exacerbating tensions.
"If the Philippines clings to its course and feels that it can provoke China with the support of countries outside the region... then conflict or some other contingency could erupt at Ren'ai Reef or Huangyan Island," Song said, using the Chinese names for Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal.
China seized Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012 following a tense standoff, while the Philippine Navy deliberately grounded a World War II-era navy ship on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to check China's advance in the waters.
Relations between Manila and Beijing have deteriorated under President Ferdinand Marcos, who has sought to improve ties with traditional ally Washington and deepen defense ties in the region, while also pushing back against Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
In a statement late Sunday, Marcos said the Philippines remained "undeterred" following the latest incidents.
"No one but the Philippines has a legitimate right or legal basis to operate anywhere in the West Philippine Sea," Marcos said, using Manila's term for the South China Sea waters to the immediate west of the Philippines.



Wars Top Global Risk as Davos Elite Gathers in Shadow of Fragmented World

A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Wars Top Global Risk as Davos Elite Gathers in Shadow of Fragmented World

A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Armed conflict is the top risk in 2025, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday showed, a reminder of the deepening global fragmentation as government and business leaders attend an annual gathering in Davos next week.

Nearly one in four of the more than 900 experts surveyed across academia, business and policymaking ranked conflict, including wars and terrorism, as the most severe risk to economic growth for the year ahead.

Extreme weather, the no. 1 concern in 2024, was the second-ranked danger.

"In a world marked by deepening divides and cascading risks, global leaders have a choice: to foster collaboration and resilience, or face compounding instability," WEF Managing Director Mirek Dusek said in a statement accompanying the report.

"The stakes have never been higher."

The WEF gets underway on Jan. 20 and Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States the same day and has promised to end the war in Ukraine, will address the meeting virtually on Jan. 23. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the meeting and give a speech on Jan. 21, according to the WEF organizers.

Among other global leaders due to attend the meeting are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.

Syria, the "terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza" and the potential escalation of the conflict in the Middle East will be a focus at the gathering, according to WEF President and CEO Borge Brende.

Negotiators were hammering out the final details of a potential ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday, following marathon talks in Qatar.

The threat of misinformation and disinformation was ranked as the most severe global risk over the next two years, according to the survey, the same ranking as in 2024.

Over a 10-year horizon environmental threats dominated experts' risk concerns, the survey showed. Extreme weather was the top longer-term global risk, followed by biodiversity loss, critical change to earth's systems and a shortage of natural resources.

Global temperatures last year exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaching the pledge governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

A global risk is defined by the survey as a condition that would negatively affect a significant proportion of global GDP, population or natural resources. Experts were surveyed in September and October.

The majority of respondents, 64%, expect a multipolar, fragmented global order to persist.