Philippines to rename disputed South China Sea islands to boost ‘sovereignty’
The features to be renamed belong to the Spratly archipelago, site of repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels
Beijing claims the South China Sea in nearly its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Manila most prominently used the renaming mechanism in 2012 under the Benigno Aquino administration, when it dubbed areas of the crucial waterway nearest its coast the West Philippine Sea.
“More than 100 Kalayaan Island Group features will have Philippine names … which strengthens administration and governance, as well as sovereignty, in Palawan and the West Philippine Sea,” the presidential palace said in a Tuesday statement.
The executive order directs all government agencies as well as schools to begin using the new names, which have yet to be revealed.
It also orders the country’s mapping agency to publish updated charts and maps for the area.
The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims to areas of the South China Sea, most importantly the Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast oil and gas resources.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Japanese combat troops to return to Philippines in ‘significant’ Indo-Pacific defence shift
The return marks an upgrade from the region’s previous ‘hub and spoke’ strategy to one of overlapping minilaterals, experts say
Their return, as part of the joint Philippine-US Balikatan military training drills, also signals a dramatic shift in the development of the Indo-Pacific security architecture from a “hub-and-spoke” strategy to one of multiple, overlapping minilaterals, with the region seen as one undivided theatre, experts say.
Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-Staff General Romeo Brawner Jnr noted the return of Japanese soldiers “is very significant”, during a day-long conference on Tuesday to mark 70 years of diplomatic relations between Manila and Tokyo.
“The last time that combat troops from Japan were in the Philippines was in 1945. Since then, combat troops from other countries were not allowed, specifically from Japan, were not allowed in the country,” Brawner said.
Historians estimate that Japanese forces killed half a million Filipinos during Japan’s three-year occupation of the Philippines.
“So that is very significant because back then, we found ourselves on opposite sides of the war,” Brawner said. “But this time, we find ourselves on the same side. Together with the United States, we will stand together. These four nations [along with Australia] will come together to exercise defensive operations.”
