Chinese Collision Highlights Rising Tensions in West Philippine Sea

Chinese vessels, including a 7,500-ton naval destroyer, harassed a small Philippine Coast Guard ship in Philippine waters Monday. Though the Chinese destroyer accidentally collided with another Chinese vessel, the incident marks an escalation in China’s aggression toward the Philippines in this important global region.

The event occurred as the Philippine vessel was delivering supplies to Filipino fishermen operating near the Scarborough Shoal. The shoal lies in the West Philippine Sea portion of the South China Sea. It is some 140 miles from the Philippine island of Luzon, placing it well within the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone (eez), as defined by international law.

But China has shown open disdain for international law, disregarding it while claiming nearly the entire South China Sea as its own. To enforce these brazen claims in recent years, Chinese vessels have repeatedly chased, blasted with water cannons, and even rammed or boarded Philippine ships in the region.

The incident on Monday may have resulted in a serious ramming against the Philippine Coast Guard cutter brp Suluan, as it was being aggressively pursued and boxed in by China’s Type 052D destroyer Guilin and ccg 3104 Coast Guard vessel. But the Chinese destroyer inadvertently hit the ccg 3104, slicing into its bow and damaging both ships.

Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said, “This resulted in substantial damage to the ccg vessel’s forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy.”

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Ray Powell, director of SeaLight at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said if the Philippine vessel had failed to evade the destroyer, the results could have been disastrous. “The destroyer could have struck the much smaller Philippine Coast Guard ship instead,” he said. “This would have almost certainly resulted in injury and death—even the sinking of the Philippine vessel.

Powell asked: “Then where would we be? Could the Philippines afford not to call this an ‘armed attack’?”

Though this incident ultimately proved to be an embarrassing own goal for China, it still underscores Beijing’s growing belligerence—and how quickly such tensions could explode into a serious conflict.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has said China’s aggression in this area “should alarm the world” because it means “China is steering the world toward war.” This is largely due to the massive volumes of trade flowing through the South China Sea. In the Trumpet’s July 2016 print issue, he wrote:

Each year, $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea. That is roughly one third of the world’s maritime commerce! Since Japan’s defeat in World War ii, America has protected this vital trade route and brought peace to this part of the world. Now the American military is retreating, and other great powers are coming in to fill the vacuum. This is going to dramatically affect trade around the world, and [United States] trade especially.

A trade war often precedes a shooting war. That is what happened just before World War ii—especially so in Asia. …

China is intimidating the nations of Southeast Asia into submission to its will. It is forcing these countries to do what it wants.

Everything is headed in the direction of war.

Mr. Flurry’s article explained that this Chinese activity will soon play a part in fulfilling a Bible prophecy warning that modern-day America and Britain will be besieged by China and its allies. Deuteronomy 28:52 discusses this future besiegement: “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trusted, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.”

Mr. Flurry said China’s aggression in the South China Sea is one of several areas where onlookers today “can already see this prophecy moving toward its fulfillment.” The unhinged rage of the Chinese Communist Party is leading to a time when China and its partners will control one third of the world’s maritime commerce through this vital region, and the U.S. “will find it impossible to import oil and other necessities,” he wrote.

To understand more about China’s belligerence and why these developments mean “[e]verything is headed in the direction of war,” read Mr. Flurry’s article “China Is Steering the World Toward War.”