Beijing-Manila tensions mount after latest South China Sea clash
Manila | The Philippines on Monday called China an “aggressor”, accusing it of “increasing tensions” in the South China Sea and causing the collision that damaged one of Manila’s boats during a resupply mission.
No one was harmed when a Chinese coast guard ship and one of Manila’s smaller wooden resupply boats made contact on Sunday, but the incident has drawn expressions of concern from the United States.
Philippine Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Teresita Daza. AP
“All incidents like this will bolster the case that it’s not the Philippines that’s the aggressor, but the other party, which is China,” Philippine Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza said on Monday.
China’s coast guard said on Sunday there had been a “slight collision” between one of its ships and the Philippine boat while the coast guard was “lawfully” blocking the boat from transporting “illegal construction materials”.
It was not the first time that China’s coast guard, backed by its maritime militia boats, have interfered with the Philippines’ resupply mission. On August 5, a Chinese coast guard ship used a water cannon against a resupply boat.
The regular resupply missions are for Philippine troops living aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, a former warship that Manila grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to assert its sovereignty claims.
The shoal, known in Manila as Ayungin, and Renai Reef in China, is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos jnr held a security meeting on Monday to discuss “the latest violation by China”, and ordered his country’s coast guard to investigate the incident.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have grown under Mr Marcos, who has complained about Beijing’s aggressive behaviour and sought closer ties with traditional ally, the United States.
The US ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, wrote on the X social media platform that “the United States condemns the PRC’s latest disruption of a legal Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin shoal, putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk”.
She added that Washington was standing with its allies to help protect Philippine sovereignty and to support a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also reaffirmed that the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty extended to attacks on Philippine forces and vessels in the South China Sea.
Maritime confrontations between Manila and Beijing have become a regular feature in the South China Sea, as both countries assert their territorial claims in the highly strategic waters.
The Philippines told China to stop “illegal” and “provocative” actions in the South China Sea, saying it should respect the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which said China’s expansive claims had no legal basis.
China’s embassy in Manila repeated calls for the Philippines to stop “causing trouble and provocation” at sea and to end “groundless attacks and smearing” against China.
One of the images shared by the Philippine coast guard showed three of the four boats carrying out the resupply operation on Sunday surrounded by seven bigger Chinese coast guard vessels.
Jonathan Malaya, of the Philippines’ National Security Council, said China’s actions caused Sunday’s collision, even as Beijing’s embassy in Manila said the Philippine vessels were “trespassing” at the shoal.
“We are relieved and thankful that no Filipino personnel were harmed. But we are concerned by the escalation and provocations by Chinese vessels, who have no business being in the West Philippine Sea,” Mr Malaya said.
China was also accused of “deliberately obfuscating” the truth about Sunday’s collision.
“What happened yesterday was a serious and egregious violation of international law and an escalation of their expansionist and aggressive action,” Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.
Reuters
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