Nearly a quarter of the world's maritime trade goes through the South China Sea, which sits between China and a number of Asian nations, including Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

In addition, experts say it has large reserves of oil and gas.

In recent years, it's also been the site of clashes between Chinese Coast Guard ships and Philippine vessels as Beijing tries

to exert its claim to virtually the entire sea in defiance of international law.

A confrontation this past week on the disputed South China Sea.

Your unsafe maneuvers are in clear violation of your obligation. For safe time, a Chinese Coast Guard ship

sideswiped a Filipino government fishing vessel and fired its water cannons.

Philippine officials said its vessel was on a routine research mission,

collecting sand.

But three small uninhabited sandbars in the area are their reasons for heightened

tensions. Both China and the Philippines claim sovereignty over them. What's at stake is less about

the sandbars themselves than about the body of water surrounding them, the South China Sea.

Since 1952, Beijing has claimed virtually the entire sea, everything inside

what's referred to as the nine dash line. In 2023, China added a 10th dash off Taiwan.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam all reject China's claims.

That was the backdrop earlier this month for the annual joint U.S. Philippines military

exercises known as Balikatan, Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder.

9,000 U.S. troops joined 5,000 Filipino military personnel for live fire drills.

This type of training is absolutely invaluable to us to be able to get out here to operate with

our treaty ally and to be able to set up a defense like this and integrate all of our systems

is just remarkable and we're really grateful for the opportunity. Some of the drills could have been sending Beijing a message.

For instance, the Philippine province of Zambales along the South China Sea coast was the side of

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