(ECNS)--Several Philippine ships gathered illegally and conducted activities irrelevant to legitimate fishing in the surrounding waters of Huangyan Dao days before. As noted by Rod Kapunan, a columnist for Philippine newspaper Manila Standard, the latest provocation is "one of the most cynical displays of opportunistic exploitation of the Filipino poor by the U.S.-Filipino proxy clique for the propaganda purposes of the U.S." Washington has clearly stepped up its game of making Manila a pawn in its scheme to contain China.