Is China hitting PHL to test the US?

THe 1995 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons prohibits the use of laser weapons as a means or method of warfare. The Protocol was adopted on October 13, 1995 at the First Review Conference of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Vienna, Austria, and was annexed to the CCW as Protocol IV. The Protocol entered into force on July 30, 1998 to “counter the silent and invisible threat to human sight posed by the threat of blinding laser weapons.”

A Chinese coast guard vessel on Monday targeted a Philippine Coast Guard boat with military-grade laser, temporarily blinding some of the PCG personnel on board. The China Coast Guard vessel also made dangerous maneuvers against the PCG ship BRP Malapascua during the incident, the PCG said in a statement issued on Monday, as it slammed China’s actions within the Philippines’s maritime waters. The harassments occurred on February 6 while the BRP Malapascua and its crewmen were supporting the resupply mission of the Navy for Filipino troops watching the Ayungin Shoal who are stationed at the partly sunken BRP Sierra Madre. (Read, “PCG says Chinese vessel temporarily blinds crew with

military-grade laser,” in the Businessmirror, February 13, 2023).

The Department of Foreign Affairs has protested China’s use of a military-grade laser at a PCG ship. The diplomatic protest, which was filed with the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Tuesday, “condemned the shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges” by a Chinese coast guard vessel against a Philippine ship on February 6.

“The Philippines has the prerogative to conduct legitimate activities within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. China does not have law enforcement rights or powers in and around Ayungin Shoal or any part of the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone,” DFA Spokesperson Teresita Daza said.

“These acts of aggression by China are disturbing and disappointing as it closely follows the state visit to China of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in early January during which he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to manage maritime differences through diplomacy and dialogue, without resorting to force and intimidation,” Daza added.

The President has summoned China’s ambassador to express his “serious concern” after a Chinese ship aimed a military-grade laser at a PCG vessel, causing “temporary blindness” to the crew. Marcos expressed his concern to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday “over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen.”

“The PRC’S (People’s Republic of China) conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crewmembers of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines’s lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. “More broadly, the PRC’S dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order,” Price said.

From the Associated Press: The United States renewed a warning that it would defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under an armed attack in the disputed South China Sea after a Chinese coast guard ship allegedly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with military-grade laser that temporarily blinded some of its crew. US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the coast guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under a 1951 treaty. The treaty obligates the allies to help defend one another in case of an external attack.”

At the Senate, Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros accused China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of lying. She said: “It cannot claim that the Chinese Coast Guard ship acted in accordance with international law, when the 2016 arbitral tribunal that ruled against China’s baseless 9-dash-line claim was constituted precisely under the Unclos. Ayungin Shoal is Philippine territory. They should stop calling it by its Chinese name. Ayungin is part of the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. The Unclos affirms this. The wider international community recognizes this.”

“To China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stop lying and stick to the truth—that China is using her military might to justify her blatant and dangerous disregard for international law, with her f limsy historical “claim” as an excuse. Stop with the false narratives, end the lies, and get out of the West Philippine Sea,” Hontiveros said.

With intelligence reports saying that China could attack Taiwan as soon as 2024—presumably around Taiwan’s January 2024 elections—is China hitting the Philippines to test the Philippine-us mutual defense commitments under a 1951 treaty?