An escalating series of clashes in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China could draw the U.S., which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, into the conflict.

A 60 Minutes crew got a close look at the tense situation when traveling on a Philippine Coast Guard ship that was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard.

China has repeatedly rammed Philippine ships and blasted them with water cannons over the last two years. There are ongoing conversations between Washington and Manila about which scenarios would trigger U.S. involvement, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview.

“I really don’t know the end state,” Teodoro said. “All I know is that we cannot let them get away with what they’re doing.”

China as “the proverbial schoolyard bully”

China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, through which more than $3 trillion in goods flow annually. But in 2016, an international tribunal at the Hague ruled the Philippines has exclusive economic rights in a 200-mile zone that includes the area where the ship with the 60 Minutes team on board got rammed.

China does not recognize the international tribunal’s ruling.

  • zeephirus@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    china claims contested area and rams opposers with their ships. EVIL. Israel claims contested area and genocides anyone who opposes. Good guys actually!

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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      2 months ago

      I don’t think “Israel does bad things, therefore China doesn’t” is very a rational position…

      • zeephirus@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        did i say that? Use your votes properly and admit that if you call what china does bad then you MUST ALSO CALL OUT OTHER EVILS!

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          2 months ago

          Do you think we don’t talk about Israeli genocide here?

          Because we do. Constantly.

          Also, what votes?

          • zeephirus@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            this platform is ENTIRELY based on votes! i never said china wasnt bad! you just put text in my keyboard. your arguments are fake and you should feel bad about that!

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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              2 months ago

              What votes? Are you talking about upvoting and downvoting comments? Why do you give a shit about fake internet points?

              • zeephirus@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                that is literally the basis to this platform. if you dont use them properly then you are a problem here as you enshitten the service. LEARN TO USE THE PLATFORM YOU ARE USING!

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                  2 months ago

                  No it isn’t. The basis of this platform is being federated forums. Up and downvotes mean absolutely nothing. If every person on every lemmy server downvoted this comment, it wouldn’t change a thing. Lemmy doesn’t even hide massively downvoted comments like Reddit does.

                  And considering I’m a moderator in this community, I’d say that being so uncivil to me (against community rules) would be not learning how to use this platform.

        • zeephirus@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          and yet look at the votes to work out how even on this platform only some crimes are seen as bad.

    • halyk.the.red@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Since mods removed my comment but failed to elaborate why, I’m going to repost it.

      Brings to mind the dichotomy of the Russian and Israeli invasions. Ivans blow up a school, and it’s a warcrime. Schlomos blow up a school, and it’s due to their inherent right to self defense.

      The comment may not be entirely related to the article directly, but why have a world news community if not for discussing world events?