China’s recent moves toward Taiwan and the Philippines are ramping up tensions on two fronts.
A Taiwanese fishing boat and its crew were detained by China’s coast guard Tuesday night. The Chinese coast guard boarded the boat before steering it to a port in mainland China.
Taiwan’s coast guard said the incident happened within China’s inner sea, near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands. Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said there are some overlapping areas where fishermen from China and Taiwan have both been operating. The Taiwanese boat was seized in one of these areas.
In the South China Sea, China’s coast guard rammed and damaged two Philippine navy boats, and seized rifles and equipment last month.
After the confrontation, the United States renewed a warning that it’s obligated by law to help defend the Philippines if Filipino forces come under an armed attack.
The president of the Philippines said the Chinese regime’s actions would not activate the treaty because no shots were fired. But he stressed the Philippines would defend its territorial interests at all costs.
What is the Chinese Communist Party’s end goal? And how should the United States respond?
Brent Sadler, retired U.S. Navy captain and research fellow for naval warfare at the Heritage Foundation, breaks it down.