MANILA, Philippines – After a Chinese media report on China’s alleged plans to seize the Philippines’ Pagasa Island (known as Zhongye in China) this year, the same author of the news article cited possibilities why the confrontation is unavoidable.
“Zhongye (Pag-asa) Island, the second largest in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, has an area of 0.33 square km, and is of great strategic significance for China if it wants to control a vast part of the South China Sea that it claims to be its territorial waters,” wrote Chan Kai Yee in an article titled “China and Philippines: The reasons why a battle for Zhongye (Pag-asa) Island seems unavoidable” that was published in China Daily Mail website on January 13.