Global Courant
Tensions in the South China Sea have crossed a line
A diver’s underwater cutting of a length of rope in the South China Sea, as seen in a short video clip this week, may seem too simple an act to qualify as a serious international incident.
But that diver was in the Philippine Coast Guard and the rope was part of a barrier placed by Chinese forces to keep Philippine boats away from an area where they had the legal right to fish. At that point, the Philippines took one of its strongest steps yet to challenge China’s growing territorial claims, which have been moving closer to the Philippine Islands.
“The barrier posed a danger to navigation, a clear violation of international law,” the Philippines said in a statement, adding that the action came on the direct orders of Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr., the country’s president. Marcos has indicated that he wants a stronger foreign policy towards China, which until now has been mostly rhetoric.
Concerns are growing over the risk of a direct clash between China and the Philippines and its allies, including the US Navy fleet patrolling the region. But many analysts say China is likely to stop taking military action to avoid US provocation
Quote: “It is normal to feel fear because if a conflict arises, we will be the first to feel it,” said Leonardo Cuaresma, president of the fishermen’s association in a Philippine community near where the barrier rope was cut.
Response: Yesterday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson brutally rejected the Philippines’ official statement. “We advise the Philippines not to cause provocation and not to cause trouble,” he said. After the rope was cut and the Philippines lifted the anchor holding it in place, China removed the barrier.
In China, the country wants to make its industrial heartland in the northeast more productive, hoping to avoid an economic slump. But Beijing is turning to policies that some economists say have outlived their time.
Ukraine admits there are doubts about the death of the Russian commander
The Ukrainian military said it was “clarifying” whether Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was killed in a recent missile attack on Moscow’s naval headquarters in Crimea. a meeting of top defense officials.
The authenticity and timing of the video, released by the Russian Defense Ministry, could not immediately be verified, but Russian state news media said the meeting took place yesterday.
In Odesa, Ukraine, young sailors are largely stuck on land while Russian warships control the coast, mines line the waterways and almost all movements of civilian ships remain prohibited.
In the US, the government is sending munitions made with depleted uranium to Ukraine, raising concerns about the material’s potential impact on health and the environment.
Fuel depot explosion kills 68 people in Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenia’s health minister said yesterday that at least 68 people were killed and 105 were still missing after an explosion on Monday at a fuel depot in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The cause of the explosion, which caused a major fire that lit up the night sky near the region’s capital Stepanakert, was not immediately clear. Witnesses reported that the explosion occurred while people were queuing to refuel their cars.
More than 28,000 people have fled the region to Armenia in the past week, after a sudden military offensive brought the enclave back under Azerbaijan’s control on Sunday.
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ARTS AND IDEAS
Presidential portraits, this time for Africa
American artist Kehinde Wiley rose to fame in 2018 with an unconventional presidential portrait: Barack Obama seated against a bright, flowery background. Now Wiley is once again breaking the mold with portraits of eleven current and former African presidents in “A Maze of Power,” which opened in Paris on Monday.
“I try to look at the African presidency in images because there is no tradition of that,” Wiley said. “There is no history around it. History surrounds Western European cultural hegemony and domination.”
