Opinion | Philippines bolsters posture in South China Sea after navy ship docks at new Spratly Islands port

A Philippine navy ship, the BRP Ivatan, recently docked at a newly-built port on Pag-asa or Thitu Island, its largest occupied feature in the South China Sea

This, and the arrival of a new multirole frigate from South Korea, demonstrate Manila’s resolve to defend its interests, even as ties with Beijing improve

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Pag-asa Island, otherwise known as Thitu Island, is situated in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. The Philippines has built a port and is upgrading the air strip. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:35am, 27 May 2020Updated: 11:15am, 27 May 2020

Two recent developments in the South China Sea are poised to enhance the Philippines’ position in the increasingly tense flashpoint and allay criticism that President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration is lacking resolve in defending the country’s interests.

On May 13, Philippine Navy ship BRP Ivatan became the first vessel to dock at the nearly-completed port of Pag-asa (Thitu Island), Manila’s largest occupied feature in the Spratly Islands in the disputed sea.

And last weekend, the country’s first modern multirole frigate from South Korea, BRP Jose Rizal, arrived in Subic naval base.

The BRP Ivatan (R) docks at the port of Pag-asa in the Spratly Islands. Photo: Handout

The BRP Ivatan, a decommissioned Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft refurbished and donated by Australia to the Philippines in 2015, is fittingly named after the Ivatans, a hardy and resilient people living in the country’s northernmost island group of Batanes which is constantly battered by strong typhoons and huge waves.

Its historic docking in Pag-Asa may well cause ripples too.