The island of Philippines, who challenges Beijing in the South -Chinese Sea

A total of 37 hectares, on the Philippine Island of the hopes-albo “Hope” is a big enough to live. There is almost nothing there.

300 inhabitants live in a group of small wooden houses. They fish in transparent, turquoise waters and grow what vegetables they can in sandy ground.

But in these controversial waters, they are not alone: ​​near the shore, to the west, there are armada.

These are all Chinese, from the Navy, the Coast Guard, or the so-called marine police, the fisheries courts, placed to maintain the Chinese domination of this sea. When our plane approached the island, we counted at least 20.

Over the last 10 years, China has been expanding its presence in the South -Chinese Sea, taking over the shipped coral reefs, building three large air bases and deploying hundreds of ships to strengthen its requirements for almost all strategic sea roads that work south of large exporters on China’s coast.

Few southeastern Asian countries, which also declare the islands in the same sea, dared to push away from China; Only Vietnam and the Philippines did so. The militants of both countries are much smaller than in China, but they hold on a few reefs and islands.

Rogus – also known as Thitu and other names, according to a number of other countries, is the largest of them.

But it makes it exceptional – it is a civilian population, which occurs in several islands of the South China Sea. In terms of the Philippines, this is, and the fact that the fago is a solid land rather than a partially immersed reef or Sandy Kay, strengthens its legitimate requirements in the area.

“The fago is very important to us,” says BBC Jonathan Malaya, Assistant CEO of the Filipin National Security Council.

“It has a runway. He can support life – he has a resident of the Philippine community and fishermen living there.

“And given the size of the island, one of the few who did not need to be returned from the sea, according to international legislation it creates its own territorial sea from 12 marine miles.

“So this is, in a sense, a linchpine for the Philippine presence.”

Getting to the pagan-two or three days of driving on a boat from the island of the Philippines Palawan, or one-nanin ride on the plane, but both are free of frequent stormy weather.

Until they appeared two years ago on the runway and lengthened 1300 m (4600 feet), only small planes could land. Now they can bring large C130 transport aircraft. Traveling in them, like us, is a little reminiscent of the ride on the bus during the rush hour.

Everything needs to be brought out of the mainland, so our plane was packed, the floor to the ceiling, with mattresses, eggs, rice bags, a couple of motorcycles and a pile of luggage – not to mention many military personnel, most of which were to stand for the whole flight.

Much has changed in recent years. There is a new hangar, big enough to shelter the planes during thunderstorms. They build a control tower and dozen a small harbor to allow large boats to be combed. We were traveled on the island by some of the Philippines Marine Infantry, although given its size, it was unlikely to be necessary

The Philippines captured the pagan in Taiwan in 1971, when the Taiwanese garrison left her during the typhoon. It was officially annexed by the Philippines in 1978.

Later, the government began to encourage civilians to settle there. But they need support to survive on this distant land. Families receive official donations from food, water and other products each month. Now they have electricity and connection to mobile phones, but it happened only four years ago.

In addition to government jobs, fishing is the only viable way to make a living, and after the arrival of Chinese flotillas, it has even become difficult.

Fisherman Larry Hugo has lived on the island for 16 years, and it is chronically increasing Chinese control over the area. He removed the original design on the Subi Reef, about 32 km (20 miles) from the pagan, which eventually became a full -fledged military air base. One of his videos, showing that his small wooden boat almost broke the Chinese ship’s coastal ship in 2021, made it a minor celebrity.

But Chinese harassment made him fish in a smaller area closer to the house.

“Their ships are huge compared to ours. They threaten us, approaching and sounding horns to drive us.

Realyn Limbo has been a teacher on the island for 10 years and saw the school out of a small house to a full -fledged school, which teaches more than 100 students, from kindergarten to 18 years.

“For me, this island is similar to paradise,” she says. “All our basic needs care. It is clean and peaceful – children can play basketball or swim after school. We don’t need shopping centers and all this materialism.”

The fag is really quiet. In the rigid heat, we found that most people died in hammocks or lost music on the porch. We came across Melania Alooda, a village medical worker, swaying a young child to help him sleep.

“The biggest problem for us is when people, especially children, get sick,” she says.

“If this is serious, we need to evacuate them to the mainland. I am not a registered nurse, so I can’t perform complex medical tasks. But planes are not always available, and sometimes the weather is too rough for travel.

“If this happens, we just have to take care of them as best.”

But she also appreciates the peace of the island life. “We don’t have many stresses. We get subsidized food and we can grow some of our own. In the big city, all you need is needing money.”

We saw a few new houses, but there is really no place for the pagan to accommodate many more people. Of very few jobs, young people usually leave the island as soon as they finish school. With all his sleepy charm and stunning white sandy beaches, he feels the garrison community, holding the border against the prevailing presence of the Chinese, which is clearly visible just offshore.

“The Chinese at the Subi Reef air base always challenge us when we approach the pagan,” the pilot said. “They always warn us that we enter Chinese territory without permission.”

They when -no try to stop you? “No, it’s a routine. We tell them that it’s the Filipin territory. We do it every time.”

Jonathan Malaya says his government every week made an official diplomatic protest to the Chinese Embassy over the presence of its ships in what the Philippines are regarded as the territorial waters of the fag. This is unlike the previous administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who avoided confrontations with China hoping to get more investment in the Philippines.

“I think we will get more respect from China when we keep our position and show them that we can play this game. But the problem of democratic people, like the Philippines, may change with new administrations. There is no such problem in China.”