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Manila is taking Beijing to court over the South China Sea again
Can another lawsuit stop China’s push? History suggests the real battle lies elsewhere.
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The Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Malabrigo being blocked by a larger Chinese Coast Guard vessel in the South China Sea on June 30, 2023.
PHOTO: PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
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MANILA – It must have been a jarring sight for Philippine officials: a once-thriving coral reef system in Sabina Shoal, now reduced to a skeletal graveyard of broken, bleached fragments at the bottom of the South China Sea.
The footage, shared with the media by the Philippine Coast Guard in mid-2024, painted a grim picture of an underwater wasteland where life once flourished, now left barren by what Manila claimed was the aftermath of China’s island-building activities.
