Philippines Summons Chinese Envoy Over “Provocative Actions” In South China Sea

Manila [Philippines]: The Philippines summoned the Chinese ambassador on Monday after two near collisions between Chinese and Filipino ships over the weekend in the disputed South China Sea, local media reported.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported today that the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had summoned Chinese envoy after Chinese vessels hit a resupply boat contracted by the Philippines armed forces and a Philippine coast guard ship in the Spratly Islands chain in the West Philippine Sea on October 22 morning.

The incidents took place near Second Thomas Shoal, which lies within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as the Philippines tried to resupply sailors on the Sierra Madre, the navy transport ship that Manile grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 and manned it with Filipino marines to enforce the Philippines claims to the area.

Jonathan Malaya, a spokesperson for the Philippines National Security Council, told a press conference on Monday that one of the Philippines’s boats was damaged in the incident.
China’s move was “provocative, irresponsible and illegal” and “imperiled the safety of the crew” of the Philippine boats, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said as reported by CNN.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has directed the Philippine Coast Guard to investigate the collision between Chinese and Philippine vessels in Second Thomas Shoal also known as the Ayungin Shoal, the Inquirer reported.

The newspaper cited a statement from Marcos’s office that said the Philippine president led a Command Conference to address “the new wave of Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.”

The United States, meanwhile, said on Monday it is standing in support of the Philippines in the face of China’s “coastguard and maritime militia’s dangerous and unlawful actions”.

The PRC Coast Guard and maritime militia violated international law by intentionally interfering with the Philippine vessels’ exercise of high-seas freedom of navigation, the US State Department said in a statement.

“China’s conduct jeopardized Filipino crew members’ safety and impeded critically needed supplies from reaching service members stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre. Obstructing supply lines to this long standing outpost and interfering with lawful Philippine maritime operations undermines regional stability,” the US statement read.

Reaffirming the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, the US reiterated that it “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, and aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea.”

Tensions have been routine between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

China asserts “indisputable sovereignty” over the majority of the islands and sandbars in the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea, including several features that are hundreds of kilometres from the Chinese mainland.

There are also conflicting claims by countries including Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan.
In the year 2016, an international arbitration court at The Hague ruled that China’s vast sea claims had no basis, acting on a case brought forth by Manila. Beijing has, however, refused to recognise it.