In Manila, a senior American defence official spoke at length about Washington's enduring commitment to Asia while conspicuously leaving unspoken the name of a reef that his own government had condemned just days before. The silence around Scarborough Shoal was not an oversight but a form of language — one that diplomats use when a larger conversation, in this case an approaching summit between two presidents, demands that smaller grievances be set aside. For the Filipino fishermen locked out of waters their families have worked for generations, the architecture of great-power relations once a
US Defence Official's Scarborough Shoal Silence Signals Diplomatic Caution
Filipino fishermen have been denied access to traditional fishing grounds at Scarborough Shoal due to Chinese restrictions.