Global Expansion

China’s Coercive South China Sea Strategy Threatens to Destabilize Indo-Pacific: Experts

Analysts warn Beijing is using a combination of physical force and environmental lawfare to assert its sweeping claims against the Philippines.
China’s Coercive South China Sea Strategy Threatens to Destabilize Indo-Pacific: Experts
Chinese coast guard ships fire water cannons at a Philippine navy chartered vessel conducting a routine resupply mission to troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea, on March 5, 2024. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
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China is using water cannon attacks and an environmental guise in an attempt to legitimize its de facto control over parts of the South China Sea—a strategy that experts warn threatens to weaken regional sovereignty, erode maritime law, and destabilize the Indo-Pacific.

A Philippine ship was targeted by water cannons from Chinese coast guard vessels on Sept. 16 near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

Jarvis Lim
Jarvis Lim
Author
Jarvis Lim is a Taiwan-based writer focusing on human rights, U.S.–China relations, China's economic and political influence in Southeast Asia, and cross-strait relations.