Overwhelmed after setting foot for the first time on a far-flung but picturesque island in the disputed South China Sea, a Filipino army official knelt to kiss the shore. She held a small Philippine flag that fluttered in the breeze.
“This is just so beautiful,” Philippines military spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said of West York Island, one of nine islands, reefs and atolls occupied by Filipino forces in the long-contested waters. “This solidifies our resolve to fight for this place whatever happens.”
