Manila has accused Chinese ships of firing water cannons and making “dangerous maneuvers” toward Philippine vessels resupplying a remote military outpost on Friday, in the latest of a string of incidents between the two countries in the disputed South China Sea.
Philippine authorities said a Chinese coast guard vessel had fired water cannon against its vessel M/L Kalayaan in “an illegal though unsuccessful attempt to force [it] to alter course,” as it took part in a routine resupply mission to troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippines also claimed that vessels belonging to a Chinese maritime militia were involved in the harassment and that two Philippine boats were subjected to “reckless” and “dangerous” harassment by inflatable boats belonging to the Chinese coast guard.
The BRP Sierra Madre is a former US Navy ship the Philippines grounded in 1999 at the Second Thomas Shoal – known as Ayungin Shoal to Manila and Ren’ai Reef to Beijing – to enforce its claim to the area.That claim is hotly disputed by China and the two countries have been involved in increasingly frequent run-ins in the highly contested waterway.
A spokesperson for China’s coast guard, Gan Yu, said in a statement that two small transport vessels and three marine police vessels from the Philippines “entered the waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef in China’s Nansha Islands without the permission of the Chinese government.”The statement claimed China has “indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters, including Ren’ai Reef,” adding the “actions of the Philippine side infringe on China’s territorial sovereignty” and urging Manila to “immediately stop its infringing actions.”
The latest incident near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands comes nearly three weeks after Beijing and Manila blamed each other for two collisions near the same area.In its statement following the latest incident, the Philippines said it condemned “once again, China’s latest unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous maneuvers against a legitimate and routine Philippine rotation and resupply mission.”
Source: CNN