Water Wars: Two Collisions Near Second Thomas Shoal as Territorial Dispute Escalates

Oct 27, 2023 | Teresa Chen and Alana Nance
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Late last month, China’s Coast Guard installed a floating barrier to disrupt navigation near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (China: Huangyan Dao; Philippines: Panatag Shoal). Although the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration rejected China’s maritime claim to the shoal in favor of the Philippines’s competing claim, China has rejected the arbitral ruling and preserved a continual coast guard presence around the strategically important shoal since China took control of it following a maritime standoff with the Philippines in 2012.