Not Your Casual News Week 10: Philippine and Chinese boats collide in disputed South China Sea
Also about Haiti's existential crisis and the Great Barrier Reef's coral bleaching
Hello! Welcome to the sum-up of week 10! Yes, ten weeks have already passed. And like every year, it feels like this one is flying away from us, faster and faster.
The short winter is already over, with alarming temperatures as we will see in the climate section — and Gazans are still being bombed every day, even though the holy month has begun.
I hope you enjoy this week’s reading.
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Ships from China and the Philippines collided on 5 March in the disputed and highly strategic South China Sea. Four Filipino crew members were left injured, in what the Philippines called “dangerous blocking maneuvers” by their Chinese counterparts who blocked the Filipino vessels’ access to the disputed area of Second Thomas Shoal.
According to Philippine officials, the Chinese coastguard and maritime militia vessels caused two collisions. The simultaneous use of water cannons by Chinese vessels against a civilian supply boat shattered the windscreen of the vessel and caused minor injuries to the crew.
An hour later, another Chinese Coast Guard vessel first blocked and then collided with a supply ship that was escorted by Philippine Coast Guard.
The vessels were on their way to resupply a small group of Philippine Navy and Marine personnel stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, a decommissioned warship that has been anchored in the shallow waters of Second Thomas Shoal since the late 1990s.
“The two civilian vessels (Unaizah May 1 and 4) and their Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard escorts were harassed, blocked, and blasted with water cannon by Chinese coast guard vessels”, the Armed Forces of the Philippines wrote in a Facebook post.
Video shared by the Armed Forces of the Philippines showing the Chinese coastguard firing water cannons at a supply boat.
The Second Thomas Shoal is a disputed area in the South China Sea, claimed by both the Philippines and China. The shoal is home to a few Filipino troops stationed on a rusting warship, which Manila grounded there in 1999 to reinforce sovereignty claims. China has deployed vessels to patrol the shoal, which lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The dispute over the Second Thomas Shoal is one of many territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan all have claims to the South China Sea, a major global trade route and potential source of oil and gas.
Beijing, for its part, rejects the fault on Manila, claiming that Washington is using the Philippines as a “pawn” in the South China Sea. The US vowed support to its ally in a press statement on 5 March, reiterating that the 1951 US-Philippines military defence treaty covers attacks on public vessels.
“China urges the United States not to use the Philippines as a pawn to stir up trouble in the South China Sea. The Philippines should not let itself be at the mercy of the United States,” told foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
China has long laid claim to the South China Sea. In 1947, the Chinese government published a map showing its claims in the region, and now asserts that its historical records and maps dating back centuries prove its sovereignty over the area.
On 11 March, China’s foreign ministry issued a warning to the Philippines after it announced the inclusion of the US in its energy exploration plan in the South China Sea, saying it should not “undermine China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
“We continue to view with great alarm this continuing dangerous manoeuvres and dangerous actions that are being done against our seamen, our coastguard,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said in an official transcript of his remarks to reporters.
In a statement issued on 6 March following a three-day summit in Melbourne, Australia and ASEAN jointly called on all countries to avoid unilateral actions in the South China Sea and urged all parties to prioritise peaceful resolution and stability in the region.
What Else Happened?
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The US military has carried out an operation in Haiti to airlift non-essential embassy staff out of the country as gang violence continues to escalate in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The evacuation comes after dozens of heavily armed gang members attempted to take over the city's political district, storming and looting police stations, prisons and hospitals. The German Foreign Ministry also announced that its ambassador and EU representatives had left Haiti for the Dominican Republic because of the deteriorating security situation. The US has urged its citizens to leave Haiti amid fears that the embattled government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry is days or even hours away from collapse. According to former US special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, the only solution in sight — the planned UN-backed deployment of 2,000 Kenyan police to Haiti — would be woefully inadequate. “That’s just a suicide mission, worst case, and a waste of money, best case,” said the diplomat.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered troops to rescue more than 250 schoolchildren and teachers kidnapped by gunmen in Kaduna state. The attack, which took place on Thursday, is one of the largest mass kidnappings in the country in the past three years. “I have received strong assurances from the President and National Security Adviser that no stone will be left unturned to bring back the children,” wrote on Twitter Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna State. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has condemned the attack and called on the government to do more to protect students. “Schools are supposed to be sanctuaries of learning and growth, not sites of fear and violence,” UNICEF Nigeria director Christian Munduate said in a statement. Nigeria’s armed forces are battling armed criminals in the north-west and a long-running jihadist insurgency in the north-east since 2009.
Senegal quick update: The Constitutional Council overturned the postponement of the presidential elections by Maki Sall. Campaigning has already begun with elections scheduled for 24 March.
Climate News
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has published its monthly climate bulletin for February 2024, and it is not looking good. According to scientists at the C3S, ocean temperatures reached unprecedented levels last month. February 2024 was the warmest February on record globally, surpassing the previous high mark set in February 2023, while sea surface temperatures averaged 21.06°C (69.91°F) last month, over 0.08°C (0.15°F) higher than the old record. Air temperatures on land were also the warmest on record for any February. The exceptionally warm ocean temperatures are fueling the potential fourth global coral bleaching event in the past five years. Bleaching occurs when corals expel algae from their tissues due to heat stress, leaving them vulnerable. Much of the increased ocean heat is attributable to human-caused climate change in addition to a weakening El Niño pattern. Scientists warn that rapid cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed to avoid further warming.
And speaking of coral bleaching, the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, is experiencing another mass bleaching event — the seventh in its history and the fifth in only eight years. The Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority conducted aerial surveys on more than 300 inshore, mid-shelf and offshore reefs, confirming “prevalent shallow water coral bleaching” on most reefs surveyed. The reef’s managers attribute the bleaching event to soaring ocean temperatures caused by the global climate crisis and amplified by the current El Niño, one of the strongest on record. The Australian government has pledged one billion Australian dollars ($660 million) over 10 years to support new climate adaptation technology, water quality programs, and protection for key reef species. However, environmental groups and global climate experts have criticized the government for not doing enough to transition Australia away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions in line with keeping global warming to 1.5°C, a critical threshold for coral reefs.
Image of the Week
Old but gold.
As we celebrated Women’s Day on 8 March, I thought this picture by Ahmad Halabisaz was worth the spotlight.
“An Iranian woman sits on a chair in front of a busy square in Tehran, defying the mandatory hijab law”, as Ahmad Halabisaz describes it. Powerful.
The photo was taken in Tehran, 2022, during the Women, Life, Freedom protests.
Happy Women’s Day.