A confrontation between China and the Philippines

is brewing in the South China Sea

Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is warning  

if the South China Sea dispute with  China escalates, “it will be bloody.”

But first, I have to tell you YouTube has  been secretly unsubscribing people from  

the show. So make sure you're still subscribed.  

And check back every Monday, Wednesday,  Friday, and Saturday for new episodes.

The Chinese Communist Party claims the  entire South China Sea is Chinese territory.

Over the past decade, China has  built artificial islands here.

And satellite photos reveal military  facilities on some of these islands.

But this is the most recent escalation: Back  in March, hundreds of Chinese boats occupied  

territorial waters claimed by the Philippines  and other countries near Whitsun Reef.

China says the Philippines  shouldn't worry. They're just  

normal fishing boats, sheltering from storms.

Forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical.

“These boats are often huge by fishing boat  standards, and they never seem to catch any fish.  

They have automatic weapons  aboard and reinforced hulls,  

making them very dangerous at close range.  With top speeds of around 18 to 22 knots,  

they are also faster than 90%  of the world's fishing boats.”

So the Chinese Communist Party is sending  

giant, reinforced, heavily armed  “fishing boats” that don't fish.

They were “sheltering” near Whitsun  Reef, even though there were no storms.

According to Carl Schuster, a former operations  director at U.S. Pacific Command's Joint  

Intelligence Center, “No one 'shelters' their  ships in a storm area weeks ahead of a storm.  

If they truly are commercial craft, it is costing  

hundreds if not thousands of dollars a  day having them sit idly lashed together.”

The reality is these aren't  fishing boats. They're warships  

camouflaged as fishing boats. And  they're part of China's maritime militia.

Their goal—force the Philippines to  surrender their territorial claims.

We covered the surge of Chinese  ships in a recent episode,  

China Vs the Philippines, Dangerous  Dispute in the South China Sea.

And now this week, Philippine president  Duterte says a confrontation will be bloody.

The South China Sea dispute  is heading towards a crisis.  

The US and China have both sent  aircraft carriers through the waters.

Even France sent a nuclear attack submarine.

The Chinese spotted it immediately.

And now Philipppine President  Rodrigo Duterte is saying he  

will send ships to assert the Philippines' claim.

But he warned in a televised briefing this week  

that “If we go there to assert our  jurisdiction, it will be bloody.”

However, that might not be as  strong a statement as it seems.  

Duterte is saying he's already abandoned the  region to China as far as fishing rights go.

At the same televised briefing, he said  

“I'm not so much interested now in fishing. I  don't think there's enough fish to quarrel about.”

Filipino fishermen might disagree. 

Duterte downplayed a confrontation over fishing  rights saying in the future he would send “five  

coastguard ships, and they can chase … They can  play with each other, and see who's faster.”

Well that's a pretty cavalier attitude.  Kind of different from before he was  

elected when he said he'd personally jet ski to  a disputed island to plant the Philippine flag.

In fact, the Philippine defence chief had to  contradict Duterte. Duterte had said “nothing  

will happen” if the Philippines sends its ships  “because we are not in the possession of the sea.”

The Defense Chief then said, no, we  

will send our naval ships to patrol the  Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

So what happened to Dueterte's  it will be bloody thing?  

Well, that won't happen unless  China starts drilling for oil.

That would be the only time  he'd be willing to act.

And don't worry, that's not  going to happen anytime ...

Oh, shoot. They've started  drilling in disputed waters.

But wait! It's for purely scientific reasons. It  was to “retrieve sediment core from the seabed.”

Dueterte's stance on China has been disappointing  to people who thought he'd stand up to China.

According to Reuters, “He has repeatedly  said the Philippines was powerless to stop  

China, and that challenging its activities  could risk a war his country would lose.”

There were even rumors the  Philippine defense sector  

was going to withdraw their support of  Dueterte. A claim they are now denying.

The problem is, China plays a big  role in the Philippines' economy.  

And the coronavirus has given the Chinese  regime more leverage over Duterte. 

“Access to vaccines has become  a key concern for Duterte:  

Metro Manila was locked down again last  week amid the nation's worst coronavirus  

surge and the Philippines currently sources  most of its supply from China's Sinovac.”

But unless something is done to actually  stop the Chinese Communist Party,  

they will keep steadily expanding their  reach until they control everything.

The good news is that all of the attention  on the Chinese maritime militia ships  

off the coast of Whitsun Reef seems to  have caught the Chinese regime by surprise.

Forcing the majority of the Chinese  militia vessels to depart the reef.

Last week, the Philippine Coast Guard  released this video of Whitsun Reef,  

showing much fewer militia  ships there than back in March.

Of course, that doesn't mean the  Chinese Communist Party has given up.  

After all, they've built these militia ships  specifically to patrol this disputed territory.  

They just don't like it when the rest of  the world is actually paying attention.

And now it's time to answer a question from a  member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,  

fans who support us in our fight against the  

Chinese Communist Party on the  crowd funding website Patreon.

Frenky asks “I have a question I hope  you can answer in the next video:  

why did you guys start China Uncensored? What's  the story behind it and how did the team meet?

Ah, great question Frenky. Matt Shelley and  I have all been involved in journalism well  

before China Uncensored. But around  2012, I felt like the threat of the  

Chinese Communist Party was growing rapidly,  but it seemed like most people weren't aware.  

So I thought, taking a little inspiration from  the Daily Show in its heyday, if I brought some  

humor and sarcasm to China news, it might get more  people interested. Shelley joined me early on and  

Matt joined when we all went to Hong  Kong in 2014 for the Umbrella Movement.

And the rest is history as it were.

Thanks for your question Frenky.

And a big thank you to everyone who supports China  Uncensored on Patreon. We could not do this show  

without you. So thank you for joining us in the  fight to expose the Chinese Communist Party to  

the world. If you're interested in joining,  head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.

Once again I'm Chris Chappell, see you next time.