With the world’s attention focused on US-sponsored slaughters in Gaza and Ukraine, it’s easy to miss the intensifying struggle between American and Chinese imperialism in the Pacific. Conflict has sharpened this summer between China and the US-backed regime in the Philippines over their conflicting claims in the South China Sea.
In recent weeks, the Chinese Coast Guard has clashed with Filipino forces near the hulk of a Filipino Navy ship, the Sierra Madre. In 1999, the Philippines intentionally ran the Sierra Madre aground at a reef called the Second Thomas Shoal to assert sovereignty over this collection of mostly-submerged rocks and sandbars. Filipino Marines have maintained a small but permanent presence there ever since. These troops require regular resupply, which China now seeks to disrupt.
What’s the significance of this? These shoals are part of a smattering of tiny islands and prominent reefs in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands. China claims all of the Spratlys and the surrounding seas as part of its own territory. However, five other countries—the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, and Malaysia—all maintain claims of their own over parts of the Spratlys.
These are the only “islands” in the center of the South China Sea, a vital shipping lane through which more than $5 trillion in goods pass every year. There are also at least 11 billion barrels worth of oil undersea, and three countries maintain drilling operations nearby.
Chinese imperialism has built up permanent military installations in the Spratlys, including airports, radar stations, missile launchers, jamming equipment, and more. These facilities are intended to counterbalance potential American aircraft carrier operations in the region. China still depends on exports to drive its economy and must maintain firm control over the strategic shipping lane.
The dispute is long running, but the inter-imperialist rivalry in the Pacific is increasingly fraught. The Filipino presence on the Second Thomas Shoal represents a direct, US-backed challenge to China’s attempts to consolidate control over the region.
Washington rushed to assure Manila that their “mutual defense” treaty covers the Filipino presence in the Spratlys. The US is in the midst of a sprawling military buildup in the Pacific, which American imperialism’s strategists see as key to forestalling their long-term, relative decline as the world’s dominant power. If China—now possessing the world’s largest navy—can gain the upper hand in the Pacific, American imperialism stands to lose a great deal.
On July 21, China and the Philippines struck a deal to cool down the situation around the Sierra Madre, but this by no means resolves the issue. The South China Sea remains a sensitive flashpoint between world imperialist powers. Capitalism will continue to bring billions of people to the brink of war over remote piles of submerged rocks until it is overthrown by the workers of all countries involved.