China is beefing up its presence in the strategic South China Sea, raising fears it is working to seize control of access to crucial global shipping routes in international waters. To expand its territorial claims, it has deployed its navy, coastguard and its maritime militia – dubbed China’s “Little Blue Men”. Fuelling Philippine alarm is the likely presence of the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia amid the fleet that swarmed the reef for weeks before spreading out around the area. “A good number of them are fishing trawlers but they are very likely manned by maritime militia,” said Dr. Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at the RSIS in Singapore, referring to China’s tactic of arming and training fishermen to target anyone challenging its claims to the region.