The tense confrontation on Saturday at the Second Thomas shoal, also called Ayungin, was a new clash in the long-running territorial conflict between China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
Disputes in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest maritime regions, have long been seen as a flashpoint and a sensitive front in the US-China rivalry in the area.
China claims ownership of virtually the entire strategic waterway despite international rulings that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims, such as the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international body based in The Hague; China rejects that ruling.
Two contracted supply ships were carrying Philippine Navy personnel towards the sandbank, escorted by Philippine Coast Guard vessels, when another Chinese Coast Guard ship approached and used a powerful water cannon to bar the Filipino group from access to the sandbar, which is also claimed by Beijing, according to Philippine Coast Guard and military officials.
The Chinese ship’s actions amounted to a “disregard for the safety of the people on board” the ship contracted by the Philippine Navy and violated international law, the Philippine Armed Forces said, without indicating whether any of its sailors had been injured.
“Excessive and offensive actions against Philippine ships” prevented one of the ships from offloading supplies needed by Philippine troops protecting the sandbar aboard a years-long stranded Philippine Navy ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, according to a Philippine military statement.
He called on the Chinese coast guard and China’s central military commission “to act prudently and be responsible in their actions to avoid miscalculations and accidents that endanger people’s lives.”
Several countries expressed concern about the actions of the Chinese ship.
The United States immediately expressed its support for the Philippines and renewed the warning that it is obligated to defend its former treaty ally when Philippine forces and public vessels come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
The US State Department said in a statement that “by firing water cannons and employing unsafe blocking maneuvers, PRC ships interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of freedom of navigation on the high seas and endangered the security of the Filipino ships and crew.” He used the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
He added that such actions are the latest by the PRC in the South China Sea and are a direct threat to “regional peace and stability.”
Australia expressed concern, describing the actions of the Chinese coast guard ship as “dangerous and destabilizing.”
For its part, Japan expressed its support for the Philippines, adding that “harassment and action, which infringes the lawful activities of the sea and endangers the safety of navigation,” were “totally unacceptable.”
China has been demanding for years that the Philippines withdraw its small contingent of troops and tow away the BRP Sierra Madre, which is technically in service despite its dilapidated state. The ship deliberately ran aground on the shoal in 1999 and now serves as a fragile symbol of Manila’s territorial claim.
Chinese ships had in the past blocked and followed supply ships at the site, which has been surrounded for years by Chinese coast guards and fishing boats believed to be manned by militants.
Although states have no claims to the South China Sea, they have frequently criticized China’s aggressive actions and deployed military ships and fighter jets on patrols and maneuvers with allies in the region to maintain freedom of navigation and overflight, something Washington says will in the interest of the United States.
China has warned the United States to stop meddling in what it sees as a purely Asian issue and has warned of unspecified repercussions.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
