Strategic Geography
🇵🇭Philippines
The Philippines’ position across the South China Sea and the Bashi Channel makes it one of the most sensitive junctions in the Indo-Pacific security architecture. This section examines gray-zone conflict and how alliance relationships actually function.
2 analyses
From Austronesian Kinship to Territorial Claims: Chinese Scholars Push Batanes Islands into New Sovereignty Dispute
A recent seminar at Jinan University in China cited geography, Austronesian kinship, and colonial history to claim that the Batanes Islands belong to Taiwan and legally fall under Chinese claim. The dispute is still confined to academics and the Philippine government, but it shows how cultural and historical narratives are being drawn into the strategic contest over the Luzon Strait.
Lawfare in the West Pacific: How Beijing Exploits Japan-Philippines Border Talks to Advance Gray-Zone Operations East of Taiwan
As Japan and the Philippines initiate maritime boundary negotiations, Beijing has quickly recast this routine legal process as a sovereignty conflict. By running coast guard patrols and harassing merchant vessels east of Taiwan, China aims to make its claimed jurisdiction there look routine and enforceable.