Phillipines versus China

The Philippines has repeatedly sent vessels carrying building materials in attempts to reinforce a warship that has been grounded on Ren’ai Jiao (also known as Ren’ai Reef) since 1999 in order to permanently occupy the reef. Those attempts are blocked by China Coast Guard (CCG) as a means to control the area.

Experts say that the US has been inciting the Philippines to provoke China over islands and reefs control in the South China Sea. As a result the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) announced military exercises to enhance combat preparedness in the South China Sea, which can be viewed as a direct response against the Philippine’s actions.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, stated that China is unequivocal when it comes to safeguarding its national sovereign security and development interests.

“We need to bolster management and control over our sovereign territories through law enforcement and military operations,” Song said.

As a result the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has extended its two-day routine patrol in the South China Sea into a third day of joint exercises, in a move experts say displays China’s determination to safeguard national interests, as the US and the Philippines reportedly scaled down their joint patrol in the region.

However parallel to the Chinese patrol, the Philippines and the US also conducted a two-day joint patrols in the South China Sea, the second such operation held between the two countries since November 2023 and which was scheduled to see the participation of four Philippine naval vessels and four US warships including an aircraft carrier, according to a Wednesday report by Reuters.

Through the exercise, the PLA forces can test the performance of its weapons and systems, enhance the troops’ operational capabilities, increase the interoperability among different military services and branches, as well as get a better understanding of the combat environment, Chen said.

China versus Taiwan and Hong Kong

Long disputed as Chinese controlled lands which were separated by foreign influences, China looks to regain control of Taiwan and Hong Kong in the future. The militarization of Tawian has long been seen as a direct provocation to China.

As a result, China will sanction five U.S. military manufacturers as a direct response to the latest round of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, confirmed by a foreign ministry spokesperson. U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are a constant source of tension between USA and China. As China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, it seeks to regain influence and control over the island. A claim Taiwan’s government outright rejects.

China looks to take back Taiwan and crush decent as it did with Hong Kong. Many have given up on freedom for Hong Kong. However keeping a close eye on the region is critical because it tells us a story about the character of current Chinese government.

For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the current social landscape, there is never ‘too much repression’. China is becoming more emboldened as a repressor of human rights. This spells a existential danger for Taiwan and potentially for the rest of the world — unless the world learns the lessons of the suffocation of Hong Kong.

South Korea versus North Korea

Communist controlled North Korea has threatened military action against South Korea in response to any provocative military activity by the democratic nation. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister and key ally of leader Kim Jong Un, made the open threats, as Pyongyang reportedly fired artillery shells near its border with South Korea for its third day.

South Korea held its own drills in the sea in response to the artillery shells. South Korea’s military rejected Kim’s statement and asserted it is low-level psychological warfare. South Korea also urged North Korea to cease military activity to not increase tensions near the border.

Relations between both Koreas are at their lowest points since the turn of the century after Kim Jong Un last year promoted North Korea as a nuclear power into their constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles as a show of power and intimdation.

Rising tensions between various countries in Asia are only a major cause for concern as there is still no end to wars n Ukraine and Israel, impacting global markets and the global economy as a whole.