RajahJun

In this blog, I'll try to explain in a simple language the current West Philippine Sea tension started. I do hope I get the facts right. I will show the various reference points and their timeline as sources of the tension. The map below shows the overlapping claim of the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. The red-broken line is China's claim while the yellow-dotted line is the Philippines' claim. Why did this happen? How did this happen? When did all of this start? What are the facts related to this situation? In 1947, Chinese geographer Yan Huairen drew a map of the South China sea. He named each rock and reef and collectively named them as South China Sea islands. That map had been obscure for a long time.  The idea surfaced again in 2009 when China presented a map, which is today's nine-dash line, to the United Nations during a territorial water dispute with Vietnam. That made the tension much clearer with us as it runs counter to our claim. On June 11, 1...

Local and international news agencies have reported the encroachment of Chinese ships last March 7, 2021, at the Julian Felipe Reef which is inside the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone. It was believed that the ships were suspected militia boats and not fishing vessels. The number of ships is about 200 plus. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/781511/lorenzana-on-chinese-ships-in-julian-felipe-reef-we-are-ready-to-defend-national-sovereignty/story/ Samples of that news were posted by the following news agencies,  Rappler  and  Reuters  on their websites. If that is true, then China is encroaching on our territory. For us ordinary citizens, it is difficult to ascertain true facts about this because we can't go there and we are not privy to the Philippine military intelligence reports. We only read it on the news. I hope we are in good hands when it comes to the security of our borders. If we are to think in simple terms, setting aside geopolitics in the So...