The Philippines should expect China to seize control of some of its waterways if a war breaks out between Beijing and Washington, according to former Philippine armed forces chief Emmanuel Bautista. The archipelago’s strategic location with routes linking the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean make it a “key terrain”, the retired general told an online forum last week. He identified these routes as the Bashi Channel next to the Batanes and Babuyan islands near Taiwan, and the straits of Mindoro, Cebu, Balabac, San Bernardino and Surigao within the Philippine Islands.  Asked about the invasion scenario that Bautista envisioned, Dr Collin Koh, Research Fellow at RSIS agreed that if a clash broke out, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would have to seize control of key waterways, especially the Bashi Channel.