Where is the philippines
The Philippines' Geographic Challenge
the Philippines is a collection of over
7,000 islands situated at the confluence
of the South China Sea the Indonesian
archipelago the Philippine Sea and
Pacific Ocean it forms the outer edge of
maritime Southeast Asia and for much of
its modern history has served as a
gateway between Western powers and
continental Asia a former colony of both
Spain and the United States the
Philippines today consists of three
island clusters Luzon Visayas and
Mindanao Luzon with the country's
capital Manila is the political cultural
and economic core of modern Philippines
it is highly urbanized relative to the
rest of the country boasts a large port
and deep Harbor and accounts for roughly
one third of the Philippines GDP
Mindanao has long been a hotbed for
political unrest and insurgent movements
and is populated by the predominantly
Muslim Moro tribes it is also an
important fruit and produce exporter the
Philippines is shaped by sharp
Geographic economic and social divisions
between a primarily urban north and
Luzon and a heavily agricultural poorer
south this along with the fractured
Island geography makes effective
national integration difficult it also
undermines manila's efforts to play a
stronger role throughout the South China
Sea region or guard against external
infringement on its territorial waters
especially from China that weakness is
apparent today as China's increasingly
aggressive moves to assert its own
maritime claims test Manila's voice in
groups like ASEAN as well as its
alliance with the US while the
Philippines location at the entrance to
maritime Southeast Asia makes it
geopolitically significant internal
imbalances continue to hamper its
ability to actively defend its own
claims let alone project power
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