When hostilities resumed, the trigger was oil, as the pundits had always expected it would be. This time, the disputed areas were not in the Middle East, but in the waters of the South China Sea. For almost 30 years China had been extracting oil from disputed waters claimed by Vietnam and/or the Phillipines. At first there had been pretenses of negotiation, and the Philippines at least in theory were protected by the U.S. Still, as time went on, it became steadily more obvious that the U.S. was not going to risk war with China, and the Chinese became steadily more arrogant in asserting control of the region.
With rampant poverty in the Philippines, and oil revenues seen as one of the few realistic hopes for correcting it, the Philippine government became steadily more desperate. In the wake of the success of Africa Feeds Africans, a charismatic new leader arose in the House of Representatives, and forced through a bill making it mandatory for the government to attempt to secure control of its undersea resources, through any means, including war.
The precise details of how combat began are lost, for there were no survivors of the first battle. What is known is that at some point on that fateful September day, guided missile frigates of the Chinese and Philippine navies exchanged missiles, leading to their mutual destruction. Within minutes, alarm bells were ringing not only around the South China Sea, but all around the world, for everyone knew that this conflict might escalate and implicate them somehow.
Sure enough, idealists of the AFA recognised the Philippine struggle as being inherently the same as the one they had just gone through in Africa, and within days volunteer corps from Africa and Europe were streaming to the East.....
Map: Philippines
Spoils: Escalating
Fog: Yes, enormous amounts of misinformation are spreading.
Reinforcements: Chained
I realize it's three weeks past the original deadline, so I don't expect to get Nostradamus credit for this one, but in case you don't have something better I thought I'd offer this up.
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