WWIII could start over Philippines dispute in South China Sea, China 'not respecting' treaties, expert says

Beijing warned that World War III could break out in the South China Sea as it increasingly shifts its attention to the Philippines, with territorial disputes driving tensions ever higher.

"Although we have a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, China is not respecting it," Gordon Chang, a China expert and fellow at the Gatestone Institute, told Fox News Digital.

"It was twice last month, on the 5th and the 29th, that the State Department issued written warnings to China that we were prepared to use force to discharge our obligations pursuant to article four of the U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," Chang explained. "That's a warning that we are prepared to go to war."

First reported by MEMRI's China Media Studies Project, the state-owned and -operated news outlet China Daily earlier this week published an op-ed titled "Manila must be warned against horrors of war" by Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

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Yang, a frequently featured expert in a range of China Daily articles, drew connections between the current tensions between China and the Philippines and tensions in Pre-World War I Europe.

The article notes at the bottom that "the views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily," but Yang engages in an inflammatory discussion of history and current tensions, referring to the "Sarajevo gunshot" after warning against Philippine politicians' "flirtation with the U.S. in the hope of gaining the upper hand in the maritime dispute with China."

"The lessons of World War I should be heeded, especially by small states, because