Relations between the Philippines and China are unlikely to improve any time soon. The debris of a new Chinese rocket threatens to crash again on Philippine territory. Local authorities have decided to shut down much of the country’s airspace.
Sino-Philippine relations are in a bad way. While it was recently learned that diplomatic relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly in recent months due to China’s uncontrolled space ambitions, today the sky seems to be darkening even more between the two Asian powers. Indeed, while China launched a new rocket on Thursday Long March 3B, remnants of the latter will fall to the Earth’s surface this weekend. Too large to burn entirely, this debris will fall completely uncontrolled and unpredictable, to our planet. According to the simulations made, they should touch the blue planet in thePhilippine maritime space.
The Philippines thus announced today, as a precaution, the closure of its airspace until Monday, January 2. A measure with significant economic and social consequences during this time of year due to the massive arrival of tourists for the New Year holidays.
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Isn’t China learning from its mistakes? Indeed, it is a question that it seems legitimate to ask when an event with similar consequences had already played spoilsport in European airspace. The unexpected return to Earth of a Chinese space launcher, as long as a 9-storey building, similarly paralyzed Spanish airspace before falling back into the Pacific Ocean.
A few days ago, we also learned that in addition to having violated certain principles of international law by dropping, in a maritime area belonging to the Philippines, debris from another rocket, China had also surrendered without authorization. in the territory of its neighbour. The Chinese military patrol then illegally recovered the remains of its aircraft by cutting the tow cable. The rag burns between the two Asian powers.
Source : forbes.com
