Manila summons envoy over ‘aggressive actions’ near reef

Chinese vessels asked to leave Philippines EEZ

The Philippines said yesterday it had summoned a Chinese envoy over “aggressive actions” by the China Coast Guard and other vessels near a reef off the Southeast Asian country’s coast.

Beijing and Manila have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and there have been repeated confrontations between their vessels near disputed reefs.

The latest incident took place on Saturday near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands during a regular Philippine mission to resupply Filipino troops garrisoned on the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded navy ship.

The Philippines said the China Coast Guard blocked its supply vessel and damaged it with water cannon, injuring three soldiers.

The China Coast Guard has defended its actions, describing them as “lawful regulation, interception and expulsion” of a foreign vessel that “tried to forcefully intrude” into Chinese waters.

Second Thomas Shoal is about 200km from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

Manila yesterday conveyed its “strong protest against the aggressive actions undertaken by the China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia against the rotation and resupply mission undertaken by the Philippines in Ayungin Shoal”, the Department of Foreign Affairs said, using the Filipino name for Second Thomas Shoal.

It said the Philippine embassy in Beijing also lodged a similar protest with the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“In these demarches, the Philippines stressed, among others, that China has no right to be in Ayungin Shoal,” the Foreign Affairs Department said.

“The Philippines demands that Chinese vessels leave the Ayungin Shoal and the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ).”

It is the same location where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannon and collided with Filipino vessels in similar stand-offs in recent months.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately comment on the summoning of its envoy.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

The United States has denounced the attack which came days after visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States stood by its “ironclad” commitments to defend longtime ally the Philippines against armed attack in the South China Sea.

Relations between Manila and Beijing have cooled under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos as he seeks to deepen cooperation with the United States and regional neighbours, while standing up to Chinese aggression towards Philippine vessels.

Chinese and Philippine officials agreed in January on the need for closer dialogue to deal with “maritime emergencies” in the South China Sea, including Second Thomas Shoal.

But Manila said yesterday that China’s “aggressive actions call into question its sincerity in lowering the tensions and promoting peace and stability in the South China Sea”.

Despite the attack, Philippine officials said the damaged vessel and a coast guard escort ship that came to its aid later deployed rigidhull inflatable boats to deliver its cargo and personnel to the Filipino outpost.

Filipino soldiers stationed on the shoal live on the crumbling BRP Sierra Madre and require frequent resupplies for food, water and other necessities as well as transport for personnel rotations.

Apart from supplies and equipment, the Philippine military said six navy personnel were delivered to the on Saturday, replacing one soldier who was evacuated on medical grounds.

The damaged supply boat and its escorts sailed back to port after completing their mission, the task force said.