Philippines unpicks Asean’s South China Sea ‘sovereignty deadlock’

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr did not dwell on warships or water cannons when he rose to speak at the country’s Independence Day celebrations on Friday. Instead, he signalled a new strategy in broaching the topic of the South China Sea: recasting the waterway not as an arena of territorial disputes, but rather as a shared vulnerability. In doing so, analysts say he may have found a way to keep China’s behaviour in the regional conversation without triggering direct confrontation...