Uncharted territory

THIS piece is meant for people who are uninformed or underinformed about our maritime issues with China. It's important to know the past to understand the present that guides future action.

On Feb. 2, 1995, two years after the last Americans left the country, a Philippine Navy patrol boat found a newly built structure on stilts flying a Chinese flag on Mischief Reef, around 150 miles off Palawan. This was after Chinese soldiers detained a fisherman who reported it after his release. Beijing, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, denied the allegation and lied that it was merely a shelter for its fishermen. Today, Mischief Reef is a fully armed forward operating base on reclaimed land.