China's bullying of the Philippines is self-defeating

Richard Heydarian is a senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines and author of "The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China and the New Struggle for Global Mastery."

Temperatures continue to rise in the South China Sea. Last week, as a flotilla of 100 Philippine civilian boats was making its way toward contested Scarborough Shoal, the China Coast Guard issued a regulation authorizing the detention of foreign "trespassers" for up to 30 days, effective from next month.