NEW DELHI: India backs the Philippines in upholding its national sovereignty and seeks “staunch adherence” to a rules-based order, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday amid a flaring up of tensions between Beijing and Manila over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Without directly naming China or referring to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, …
Lying in the waters around the Spratly Islands, a derelict ship at the Second Thomas Shoal has become a symbol of the Philippines’ defiance in the hotly contested South China Sea. China’s claims China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including the Second Thomas Shoal, based on the historical and controversial Nine-dash line. The distance between Mischief …