China’s continued incursions into the Philippines’ EEZ have been ratchetting up the tension in the South China Sea. Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte attempted to work with the Chinese, but that has been unrewarding and it now appears the Philippines is beginning to push back.
The Washington Post reviews the US commitment to defense of the Philippines.
On one hand we might say that, since we no longer have bases in the Philippines what does the US get out of our mutual defense agreement? But on the other hand, we don’t want to see the Philippines become a Chinese satellite.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
The U.S. and the Philippines have plenty to share both good and bad over time, but I still think the good outweigh the bad. They are more like us than they are like the Chinese.
That’s what happens when a cash strapped country like the Philippines find that their sitting on an submarine oil reserve that extends from their coastline into their EEZ protected zone and a country like China want’s a piece of the action. By extending their own EEZ zone by island hopping into the South China Sea…
Except of course artificial islands have not territorial sea or EEZ.
True enough, but then again were talking about the PRC, which makes up the rules every time a new Natural Resource is discovered just outside of their reach (i.e. the “Tindalo Oil Field”), in the South China Sea just off of Palawan Island, the Philippines…
The way EEZ’s are delineated has to be one of the best systems for international order ever devised. Keeping that order should be the duty of every state.
YES! This right here! I’ve seen the hodgepodge map above with China’s “9-line” dip radically out of reasonableness. I’d like to see a map which *only* shows PRC’s real EEZ. And we should only use that map, as showing a map with PRC’s ridiculous claims, gives them legitimacy.
I found this article interesting and succinct, particularly the part about the tribunal ruling establishing some aspects which dramatically impacts (shrinking) the US EEZ in the Pacific.
https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-the-legal-implications-of-the-south-china-sea-ruling-62421