Beside a resupply mission in the South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard accused Chinese forces on Tuesday March 5 of colliding with two of their boats and injuring four of its crew with water cannons.
The clash took place in the Second Thomas Shoal (or Ayungin Atoll, in French) sector of the Spratly Islands, claimed by both countries and a regular scene of events. The Philippines maintains permanent troops there. The Chinese Coast Guard said it had “Control measures taken” in front of “After Philippine vessels intruded into waters near Renai Reef (Chinese name of Ayungin Atoll)In the Nansha Islands (Chinese name for Spratly Archipelago) »Without giving further details.
The Philippine flotilla, composed of two supply boats and two escort boats, was attacked as it approached Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino units were stationed on grounded ships. Sierra Madre
. One of the supply boats, TheUnaizah-May-4According to Manila, two Chinese ships were targeted by a simultaneous jet of water, which broke the windows of its command post and injured four people.
This boat was also a victim “Little Skirmishes”, according to this source, and was unable to unload its cargo and had to turn back, intending to relieve the troops stationed there. Another supply boat, theUnaizah- May-2017was usually able to unload its load Sierra Madre. A Philippine escort ship also fell victim “Little Skirmishes” to whom “resulted in minor structural damage”According to Philippine authorities.
Chinese ships have “harass, block, deploy water cannons and conduct dangerous maneuvers in a second attempt to obstruct or unlawfully interfere with routine resupply and circulation missions”, accused the Philippine government. Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu, for his part, accused Philippine forces of “willingly” hit a Chinese boat, causing “from the beginning”.
Shortly after, Philippine authorities announced that they had summoned the Chinese representative in Manila to condemn the actions. “aggressive” from Beijing. The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Embassy Number Two that it had taken it into account “unacceptable” This event.
For its part, Beijing expressed “strong opposition”Chinese diplomatic spokesperson, Mao Ning added, according to whom the Philippine ships “Attempted to transport supplies and construction materials” to consolidate Sierra Madre. The American ambassador in Manila, Merrick Carlson, accused China “Dangerous Maneuver”
WHO “endangering life”. European Union (EU) representative, Luc Veron, for his part, said “difficulty”.
Despite an international court ruling in 2016, Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the coasts of some neighboring countries. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim several reefs and islands in this sea, some of which may contain oil reserves. In December, Chinese ships had already fired water cannons at Philippine boats.
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The new development comes a day after the intervention of the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, who once again showed his firmness towards China. “We will never give away even a square centimeter of our territory”urged the head of state on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia summit in Melbourne on Monday.
Relations between Manila and Beijing have deteriorated since the election of President Marcos in 2022, who decided to strengthen ties with the United States, the country’s traditional ally, and oppose Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea. An approach that contrasted with that of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who sidelined maritime disputes with Beijing in exchange for promises of investment.
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