Philippines attempts to exploit Xianbin Jiao to further own operations: expert

The Philippines is attempting to use Xianbin Jiao in the South China Sea as a semi-permanent floating platform to further its own operations at China's Ren'ai Jiao and has "fabricated" accusations against China as a reason to send its vessels there, according to an expert on maritime affairs.

Tensions have been inflamed after a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship caused a collision with a Chinese vessel early Monday morning in waters near Xianbin Jiao, a part of China's Nansha Islands, before later intruding into the waters of Ren'ai Jiao, according to the China Coast Guard (CCG).

The Philippine vessel ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and at around 03:24 Monday intentionally sailed dangerously toward a Chinese coast guard vessel on maritime enforcement duty, causing the scrape, said China Coast Guard (CCG) spokesperson Gan Yu, who added that the Philippine side bears full responsibility for the incident.

The Xianbin Jiao reef, located in between the site of a Philippine military vessel that has been illegally grounded since 1999 in the waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao and the Philippine coastline, has become a flashpoint for the CCG and the Philippine Coast Guard in the South China Sea.

In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) prior to Monday's incident, Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said he believes the Philippines considers exploiting Xianbin Jiao as a deployment base or semi-permanent floating platform to ensure their logistical link to China's Ren'ai Jiao.

"The Philippines is trying very hard to make a new advancing base at Xianbin Jiao. Actually, in the [past] history, the Philippines used Xianbin Jiao as a gathering point to [carry out] resupply missions to Ren'ai Jiao, because Ren'ai Jiao is quite far from its coastline," Yang said.

Yang also said that the Philippines' apparent explanation over its activities around the Xianbin Jiao area has been completely fabricated as an excuse to make their illegal intrusion in these waters.

"The reason for the Philippines to send the vessel to Xianbin Jiao, they fabricated a reason that they are monitoring, they are [carrying out] surveillance on China's construction in Xianbin Jiao, [that] they are deterring China's so-called 'occupation of Xianbin Jiao', but that is not real," he said.

China said its presence is to safeguard its national sovereignty and has denied the Philippines' claims of Xianbin Jiao falling under its exclusive economic zone, accusing it of breaching the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, a long-standing agreement signed with China and the members of ASEAN back in 2002.

"It should be made very clear to the international society that China has no need to occupy Xianbin Jiao and has not any plan to make constructions at Xianbin Jiao. But the Philippines has fabricated this accusation and made it as a reason to settle their vessels in Xianbin Jiao for four months. So, that is ridiculous," Yang said.

Philippines attempts to exploit Xianbin Jiao to further own operations: expert

U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a 100 percent tariff on overseas-produced films has ignited fierce criticism from Hollywood and academic circles, amid growing concerns over the struggling domestic film industry.

Nicholas J. Cull, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, warned that the film tariff is fundamentally an act of political manipulation. He cautioned that it would heighten uncertainty in the industry, hinder international cultural exchange, sever global understanding, and undermine efforts toward international cooperation and dialogue.

"We live in a world where the problems are too big for any one country to solve, and the only way these problems are going to be solved is if people are able to work together. Now working together requires trust. Trust requires knowledge. One of the ways in which countries get to know each other, get to appreciate each other, is through exposure to their popular culture. Now it should be a time for learning more about each other, building trust between countries, and learning how to work together. And seeing each other's movies, I think, is a really important way of building knowledge and building trust. And so to me, the idea of limiting the distribution of films or penalizing production of foreign films is swimming in exactly the wrong direction at this particular moment in history," said Cull.

Cull also challenged Trump's justification that foreign films pose a threat to national security, calling it unconvincing and counterproductive to America's global image.

"He is making this important connection in that statement between what people see of America, how people feel about America, and how secure the United States is, but I don't think making crazy proposals and threatening our neighbors is a great way of helping America's reputation. I think that there must be better ways of going about this. So in the long term, this kind of behavior, I think increases mistrust about the United States," he said.

Cull further warned that the policy could trigger retaliatory measures from other countries, escalating into a cultural trade war that would limit the global flow of ideas and creativity.

"I think that in the more immediate future we can see that there will be a danger of reciprocal tariffs. So other countries will say, 'well, if you're going to impose a tariff on our production, we're going to impose a tariff on your production.' And that would be unhelpful. I think one of the things I would worry about is the world seeing less of one another's creativity, less of one another's perspectives. Right now, we need to know more about what each other are thinking, I feel," he explained.

Trump's film tariff fuels global cultural divide: scholar