Beijing –
Ramming boats, building militarized islands and threatening suspected violators – China is escalating confrontations with the Philippines in a bid to push it out of the South China Sea, analysts say.
One of the most dangerous flashpoints between the two nations is an underwater reef called the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippine Navy deliberately beached a derelict World War II ship in 1999 to assert the country’s territorial claims.
The crumbling BRP Sierra Madre is still home to a small garrison of Philippine Marines and is about 200 kilometers from the western Philippine island of Palawan and over 1,000 kilometers from the nearest major landmass of China.
