Philippines Looks to US Treaty in China Dispute
The US media are doing a terrible job of ignoring this story. China is acting like the worst of imperial powers .. claiming territorial rights over the entire South China Sea even though the territory of China borders only the northern edge of the Sea with the rest bordered by r Philippines and Vietnam. The Chinese claim is doubly important because this passage way to the Indian Ocean is vital to a huge portion of world shipping and, of course, there is oil to be found.
May 23, 2012
SEOUL – A tense naval standoff stemming from competing territorial claims between China and the Philippines is throwing a spotlight on an obscure treaty between Manila and Washington. But contemporary political considerations may trump the decades-old agreement.
Picture: American crew members stand on the deck of the decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas in North Charleston S.C., on May 22, 2012, during a ceremony in which it was transferred to the Philippine Navy.
SEOUL – A tense naval standoff stemming from competing territorial claims between China and the Philippines is throwing a spotlight on an obscure treaty between Manila and Washington. But contemporary political considerations may trump the decades-old agreement.