World News for Students of English

05-12-2019 15:00

There is a dispute over 70 islands in the South China Sea. Countries in South East Asia dispute over who controls the land. China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines dispute seventy pieces of land.

In 2016, an international court said that China had no right to a lot of the area which it claimed. However, nothing happened because the court cannot make China do anything.

The Philippines has a complicated relationship with China. Things got a little better when Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines.

However, there may be problems between the countries because of one island. Its name is Thitu and it belongs to the Philippines. China claims this island, also.

Almost 300 Chinese ships were around the island in recent months, and Duterte spoke about the situation. He said that he would tell the Philippine army to get ready.

Difficult words: dispute (an argument, a debate), court (an institution which says if somebody is doing something illegal), claim (say that something is yours).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.