By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD (PCG) said on Tuesday that a government ship operated by civilians was harassed by two Chinese coast guard vessels while buying fresh catch from Filipino fishers near Scarborough Shoal, marking the latest flare-up at the disputed feature in the South China Sea.
Authorities said a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship blasted water at BRP Datu Gumbay Piang of Manila’s Fisheries bureau about 14 nautical miles (25.9 kilometers) east of Scarborough for nearly 30 minutes, damaging the vessel and injuring a Filipino crew member who sustained an ear laceration from shattered bridge glass.
Another Chinese coast guard ship performed “hazardous maneuvers” while attempting to use its water cannon against the Philippine vessel, the PCG said.
“The Philippine vessel effectively executed safety maneuvers to avert any potential damage,” it said in a statement.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
A Chinese navy vessel also issued a radio warning to Philippine ships near Scarborough Shoal, announcing live-fire drills that triggered panic among Filipino fishermen in the area, the PCG said.
“Despite the hostile actions, the PCG and the DA-BFAR (Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) remain committed to upholding our maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea,” it said, using the Filipino name for parts of the South China Sea within Manila’s 200-nautical mile (370 kilometers) exclusive economic zone.
The CCG on Tuesday said it fired water cannon at Philippine ships near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, accusing Manila of an “illegal” intrusion and the ramming of one of its vessels.
Tuesday’s encounter involved more than 10 Philippine ships, said Gan Yu, a spokesperson for China’s Coast Guard, accusing the vessels of having “illegally invaded China’s territorial waters of the Scarborough Shoal from different directions.”
In particular, he faulted Philippine Coast Guard vessel 3014, saying in a statement it had “disregarded solemn warnings from the Chinese side and deliberately rammed a Chinese coast guard vessel.”
He added, “The China coast guard lawfully implemented control measures against the Philippine ships.”
These included measures such as verbal warnings, route restrictions and water cannon spraying, Mr. Gan added.
The confrontation in Scarborough Shoal comes a week after Beijing approved a plan to establish a national nature reserve at the disputed feature, which lies just 222 kilometers off the coast of Luzon but almost 900 kilometers from China’s Hainan Island.
China’s State Council said the nature reserve is an important measure to maintain the “diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem” of the maritime feature.
The reserve will cover more than 3,500 hectares at Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal, with its coral reef ecosystem as the main protection target, according to China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
Analysts have said Beijing’s plan to categorize the shoal as a nature reserve amounted to trying to take the moral high ground in the dispute over the atoll, known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.
Scarborough has been under de facto Chinese control since 2012. A Hague-based arbitral tribunal voided China’s sweeping South China Sea claims in 2016, but sovereignty over the rocky atoll remains unresolved as the ruling did not assign ownership.
The South China Sea has become a regional flashpoint with China continuing to assert its sweeping claim over almost the entire sea, a vital global trade route that is also believed to be rich in undersea gas and oil deposits.
Meanwhile, a Philippine military official said on Tuesday that any “control measures” performed by Chinese forces within the country’s exclusive waters are illegal after China claimed a flare-up at a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
“Any control measures instituted by the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the Chinese coast guard or the maritime militia within our exclusive economic zone are all illegal,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent T. Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesman for the South China Sea, said in a media briefing.
A spokesperson for the Philippine Maritime Council said there was “no truth” in China’s statement that it had taken control measures, which it dismissed as “another case of Chinese disinformation and propaganda.”
PHL-UK VISITING FORCES AGREEMENTAlso on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. said the United Kingdom (UK) has invited the Philippines to begin talks on a possible visiting forces agreement (VFA), a move that could deepen ties between the two countries amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.
He said he had received a letter from his British counterpart on Tuesday “inviting” the Philippines to kickstart discussions for a VFA.
“We see some synergies, a lot of synergies between the UK and us,” he told lawmakers at a House of Representatives hearing. “They are also willing to interconnect their maritime domains with the Indo-Pacific area.”
The Philippines, already bound by military agreements with the US, Japan and Australia, is pursuing closer security ties with allies amid tensions with China over disputed features in the South China Sea.
Security cooperation with allies soared under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who has taken a firmer stance against Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims compared with his predecessor. — with Reuters