Region flies the flag for managing its own affairs

In a sign that Sino-Philippine relations are now resilient enough to withstand any unexpected incident, on Monday, the Philippine navy extricated one of its largest warships from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea where it ran aground last week.

There had been speculation that Manila was repeating an old trick and the BRP Gregorio del Pilar had been deliberately stranded on Half Moon Shoal, which China calls Banyue Jiao, as a Philippine navy vessel was deliberately grounded on Ren'ai Jiao in 1999, in an attempt to claim the sovereignty rights over the reef and its surrounding waters. Nearly 20 years have passed and the Philippines has yet to tow away the rusty ship, which it has been using as a military outpost.

Since then the Sino-Philippine relationship has been on something of a roller-coaster ride, hitting its nadir when the administration of Benigno Aquino III, encouraged by the United States, took a confrontational stance toward Beijing, and only coming back to the normal track after President Rodrigo Duterte took steps to answer Beijing's call to reset the strained ties after he took office in 2016.