Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in 2016, changed the decision to promote closer ties with China.
When Ferdinand Marcos was elected president of the Philippines in 2022, Marcos vowed to stand up for Manila’s sea right.
Since then, Manila and Beijing’s political relations have deteriorated as the Marcos management continues to criticize Chinese actions.
China uses ships with the coast guard and other vessels to police waters around islands that the Philippines claim.
That includes Next Thomas Shoal, which lies about 200km from the eastern Spanish island of Palawan and more than 1, 000km from China’s nearest major territory, Hainan area.
In order to assert Manila’s promises to the place, the Philippines purposefully grounded a military ship on the coast in 1999.
A few Filipino troops stationed on the dirty ship rely on ordinary delivery of supplies for their success.
On Friday, lots of Filipino protesters in Manila gathered to demand that the West Philippine Sea, which is the name of the South China Sea waters to its quick east, be “ours.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech for the celebration that Washington remained “deeply concerned” about China’s says “over large locations that are clearly within the sea control of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei”.