By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News
Opinion – December 17, 2025 (Scheduled 02:30 a.m. ET)

WPS News was never meant to be polite. It wasn’t built to whisper. It wasn’t founded to look the other way while a superpower strong-arms a smaller nation. This outlet exists because the Philippines deserves a voice that refuses to back down. And because sometimes the only way to defend the truth is to raise hell until the world hears it.

Our masthead says it plainly: “It’s a newspaper’s job to print news and raise hell.” That’s the mission. That’s the job. And in the West Philippine Sea, the job has never been more necessary.

For the first eleven days of December, China behaved like the bad eggs of the Indo-Pacific, swarming Philippine waters with coast guard ships, naval vessels, and its now-infamous maritime militia. The Armed Forces of the Philippines logged 20 Chinese vessels operating inside the Philippine EEZ in just one week (ABS-CBN News, 2025). These weren’t routine transits—they were deliberate shows of force in someone else’s backyard.

Then, on December 6, Chinese forces fired signal flares at a Philippine patrol aircraft conducting lawful surveillance (AP News, 2025; Las Vegas Sun, 2025). Name another “responsible major power” that fires pyrotechnics at a neighbor’s airplane and expects applause. Professional navies don’t behave this way. Bullies do.

The Philippine Coast Guard documented over 50 Chinese vessels across multiple reefs during the same period, including six maritime militia ships at Rozul Reef alone (PCG/Instagram, 2025). This isn’t accidental overcrowding. It’s orchestrated intimidation.

And the truth is simple: you don’t get to bully a sovereign nation and then demand silence from its press. WPS News will never give China that silence.

Across the region, Beijing has repeated this playbook like a bad rerun—around Japan’s Senkaku Islands, in Australia’s near waters, and now near New Zealand’s broader security perimeter. Reuters reporting from early December confirmed a mass movement of Chinese naval assets across East Asia, a flex designed to impress the world and instead reminding everyone why they don’t trust Beijing’s intentions (Reuters, 2025).

This is why WPS News exists: to tell the truth plainly; to call out aggression clearly; to stand with the Philippines publicly; to raise hell loudly when the situation demands it.

We are an American voice, yes—but a committed ally’s voice. A voice that understands that sovereignty doesn’t defend itself, that fishing communities don’t survive on press releases, and that open seas don’t stay open when bad actors go unchecked.

China will not dictate our tone.
China will not silence our reporting.
China will not intimidate this newsroom.

If Beijing wants the world to stop calling them bad eggs, then the solution is obvious: stop acting like bad eggs.

Until then, WPS News will continue doing its job—printing the news and raising hell—every time China threatens the territorial integrity, safety, or dignity of the Philippines. And if Beijing doesn’t like that, good. That means the reporting is hitting its mark.

APA References

ABS-CBN News. (2025, December 9). AFP: 20 Chinese coast guard, naval ships monitored in West Philippine Sea in first week of December. https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/9/afp-20-china-ships-monitored-in-west-ph-sea-in-first-week-of-december-1424

AP News. (2025). Philippines says China fired flares toward its patrol plane in the disputed South China Sea. https://apnews.com/article/050582ac9f143beec3841e2ae9b25e2b

Daily Guardian. (2025). Communities seen as key defenders in West Philippine Sea. https://dailyguardian.com.ph/communities-seen-as-key-defenders-in-west-philippine-sea/

Las Vegas Sun. (2025). Philippines says China fired flares toward its patrol plane. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/dec/06/philippines-says-china-fired-flares-toward-its-pat/

PCG/Instagram. (2025). West Philippine Sea vessel monitoring report. https://www.instagram.com/p/DR7YiRBD6HL/

Reuters. (2025). China massing military ships across region in show of maritime force. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-massing-military-ships-across-region-show-maritime-force-sources-say-2025-12-04/

Reuters. (2025). China warns Philippines over maritime incident. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-tells-philippines-stop-provocations-after-south-china-sea-vessel-clash-2025-10-13/

Wikipedia. (2025). Philippine Maritime Zones Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Maritime_Zones_Act

For more social commentary, see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

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