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12 September 2024

Water Wars: New Fault Lines and Frictions, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific

Aaron Baum, Nikhita Salgame & Ania Zolyniak

After announcing a provisional agreement addressing some differences over one territorial dispute, Second Thomas Shoal, China and the Philippines found themselves in a new row in August over a separate area in the South China Sea: Sabina Shoal. The Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that have their own territorial disputes with China have also spent the month building new defense alliances and participating in joint exercises in the region. Some of these countries are also home to Chinese-owned or controlled ports, which may be facing increasing competition in the coming years due to U.S. and Indian efforts to diminish China’s port dominance in the Indo-Pacific.

On Aug. 19 at 3:24 a.m. local time, Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided near the Sabina Shoal—a disputed 14-mile stretch in the South China Sea approximately 86 miles west of the Philippine island of Palawan. Both countries’ ships sustained damage. A spokesperson for the Chinese Coast Guard said that two Philippine Coast Guard ships had “illegally intruded” into the waters near the shoal, during which one ship “deliberately collided” with the Chinese ship that was “safeguarding rights and enforcing the law.” The spokesperson said that incident “seriously violated China’s territorial sovereignty.” The Chinese Coast Guard also released a video on social media platform Weibo, which shows a Chinese boat driving away a Philipinne boat in waters near the island.

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