Protesters in Manila marched against Chinese “aggression” in the South China Sea on Tuesday, gathering outside the Chinese consulate to wave banners and march across a giant replica of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s face.

“Xi Steals Seashells From Our Seashores,” read one of the more clever English-language signs carried by the demonstrators.

“Our message is addressed to the Chinese government: move out of the West Philippine Sea, dismantle its illegal structures … recognize the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, and stop the harassment of Filipino fisher folk and … Philippine supply missions,” said protest leader Mong Palatino, as quoted by Reuters.

China has been doing everything Palatino objected to, with growing ruthlessness. China has extensively militarized disputed islands in what Filipinos refer to as the “West Philippine Sea,” as part of what U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. John C. Aquilino called “the largest military buildup since World War 2.”

China did this despite losing a celebrated case before an international tribunal at The Hague in 2016. The tribunal trashed China’s extensive claims over the South China Sea, ruling overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines — but China simply ignored the ruling and has used growing amounts of force to drive Filipinos out of the disputed area. Many of Tuesday’s protesters were fisherman angry at China for driving them away from their favorite fishing grounds.

As Palatino mentioned, some of China’s most belligerent actions involve interfering with supply missions to the peculiar Filipino outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal, an elderly ship called BRP Sierra Madre that was deliberately run aground in 1999 to create an instant military base. China complains incessantly about the presence of the Sierra Madre outpost and seeks to interfere with supply missions to the small group of Filipino troops stationed there.

China crossed a line last month by injuring several Philippine Navy crewmen and damaging their ship with a water cannon, prompting the Philippine government to lodge its “strongest protest” to date with the Chinese consulate.

Tuesday’s protest was organized by a left-wing group called Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance), which is not overly fond of the American presence in the South China Sea, either.

While most of the demonstrators expressed their ire at Beijing, some also criticized the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for inviting the United States and Japan to establish a larger footprint in the Philippines to counter China. Marcos Jr. opened four additional military bases to U.S. troops in April 2023.

An airstrip made by China is seen beside structures and buildings at the man-made island on Mischief Reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea are seen on Sunday March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

“We need an independent foreign policy that will fight China but would not allow the US or Japan to exploit us for their own agendas. We should urge our friends abroad to support us, but it is another thing to allow the U.S. to base in our territory and prepare for a war that is not our national interest,” former Philippine congressman Antonio Tinio said in an interview.

Tinio was especially concerned about the U.S. and Philippine militaries building a new base in Batanes, a tiny northern province that is less than 125 miles from Taiwan. Tinio worried that if the U.S. engages in hostilities with China over Taiwan or the South China Sea, Filipinos in Batanes and nearby provinces could be endangered.

“We say: ‘China out of PH waters and exclusive economic zone,’ we say: ‘Enough of China’s trampling of our territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests,’” declared Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (the Philippines Peasant Movement), another protest organizer.

“While we strongly censure China’s permanent presence and non-recognition of the arbitral tribunal ruling on the West Philippine Sea, we also want a de-escalation of the tension in the high seas and an overall demilitarization of the West PH Sea. We do not support and condone the recent and upcoming military exercises initiated by the United States and PH governments,” the Philippines Peasant Movement said.