Bid to sabotage South China Sea consensus shows Manila an irresponsible actor in region

The series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meetings that concluded in Kuala Lumpur last week reconfirmed the regional consensus on resolving differences through consultations. So there can be no quibbling about which party is the bad apple in the basket threatening regional peace and stability.

On Tuesday, a Philippine Coast Guard ship sailed into the waters near China's Huangyan Island and carried out a series of extremely dangerous and provocative moves, cutting through China Coast Guard ships' sailing routes at high speed multiple times. These unprofessional and reckless maneuvers seriously threatened the safety of the Chinese ships.

Unlike previous incidents where the Philippines portrayed itself as a "victim", this time its actions were clearly aggressive. Manila appeared to stage this provocation after failing to rally ASEAN support in Kuala Lumpur and in alignment with US geopolitical objectives in the South China Sea.