South China Sea: Filipino islanders face ‘very dangerous' life under Beijing's shadow
Overwhelmed after setting foot for the first time on a far-flung but picturesque island in the disputed
South China Sea , a Filipino army official knelt to kiss the shore. She held a small
Philippine flag that fluttered in the breeze.
'This is just so beautiful,' Philippines military spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said of West York Island, one of nine islands, reefs and atolls occupied by Filipino forces in the long-contested waters.
'This solidifies our resolve to fight for this place whatever happens.'
The 18.6-hectare (46-acre) droplet-shaped island, called Likas by Filipinos, could easily become an ecotourism draw in tropical Asia with its powdery white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and giant sea turtle sanctuaries. Padilla expressed hope it could someday be opened to Filipino travellers and tourists from across the world.
But that long-standing aspiration by Philippine officials has been stymied by a tangle of territorial conflicts involving a militarily superior
China
Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil. It has increasingly flexed its military might, including its navy – the largest in the world – to strengthen its grip on a strategic waterway it says it has owned since ancient times.
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