Any hopes that China would dial back its aggressive behavior in the Philippine Sea are unrealistic, according to some experts.
MANILA, Philippines — Apart from releasing “boilerplate” statements, the Chinese government has yet to announce any casualties in last week’s collision of its ships off Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal.
This was despite the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) report that four China Coast Guard crewmen were thrown overboard by the collision of a CCG vessel with a warship of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N).
Even the collision itself was not mentioned in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) official statements.Unlike the relatively usual water cannon and ramming incidents, the news about the extraordinary collision was widely picked up by international media, even in Taiwan.
Taiwan-based Chinese foreign policy expert Titus Chen noted that mainstream and independent media in the self-ruled democratic island have also covered the event “quite extensively.”
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