Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spent the first 15 months of his term working with the US and its allies to counter China’s incursions in the South China Sea. Now, his government is taking the fight more directly to Beijing in a move that could force the US to make some tough choices.
Marcos this week ordered a “special operation” in which his coast guard removed a barrier installed by China at the entrance of the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks the two sides claim as their own. Footage posted by the Philippine coast guard shows a knife-wielding man in scuba gear slicing through a rope connecting buoys that they say threatened fishermen and was “a clear violation of international law.”