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The risks of a “miscalculation” and armed conflict have risen in the disputed South China Sea with a militarily stronger China now able to challenge the United States, which used to be the dominant power in the strategic waterway, the Philippine envoy to Beijing said yesterday.
Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana said the balance of power was shifting with the two global powers vying for control of the waters, adding that the Philippines should not get entangled in the increasingly tense maritime rivalry.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims, and it has built seven mostly submerged reefs into islands that reportedly can be used as forward air naval bases and have been installed with a missile defense system.
The U.S. Navy has sailed warships on “freedom of navigation” operations near the artificial islands, which China has protested as U.S. intervention in an Asian conflict. “Whereas before the South China Sea was dominated by the U.S. 7th Fleet, now the Chinese navy is starting to challenge the dominance,” Sto. Romana told a news forum in Manila. “I think we will see a shift in the balance of power.”
“It is not the case that the South China Sea is now a Chinese lake, not at all,” Sto. Romana said.
