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Philippines Leverages Media in Its Asymmetric Territorial Confrontation With China

by Eric Olander
This kind of drone footage by GMA News reporter Raffy Tima highlights how the Philippines Coast Guard is using the media to challenge China's claims in the South China Sea. Video by Raffy Tima.

When Philippines Coast Guard (PCG) ships pulled up on Tuesday to the 300-meter barrier that China laid near a fiercely contested shoal in the South China Sea, four Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels hovered nearby but didn’t intervene.

“They were not that aggressive,” explained PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela because it was clearly evident to the Chinese that the PCG invited the media aboard to record the interaction.

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