The Philippine foreign minister described the boats as “public property”. (Represent)
Manila, Philippines:
The Philippines on Thursday accused a Chinese Coast Guard vessel of firing water cannons at ships carrying Philippine marines in the disputed South China Sea, and ordered Beijing to “step back”.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said he had expressed “indignation, condemnation and opposition” to Beijing over the incident, which he said occurred on Tuesday when Philippine boats were sailing to Thomas Shoal. two of the disputed Spratly Islands.
“Fortunately, no one was injured; but our boats had to abort their resupply mission,” Locsin said in a statement on Twitter, describing the actions of the three Chinese ships as “illegal”.
Locsin described the Philippine boats as “public”, indicating they were civilian, and said they were protected by a mutual defense treaty with the United States.
“China does not have law enforcement powers in and around these areas,” he added. “They have to pay attention and step back.”
Tensions in the resource-rich waters have spiked this year after hundreds of Chinese ships were spotted at Whitsun reef, also in the Spratlys.
China claims almost all of the sea, through which trillions of dollars of annual trade passes, with competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The disputed waters also have valuable fishing grounds and are believed to sit atop vast oil and gas fields.
Beijing ignored a 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that its historic claim to most of the sea was unfounded.
‘We don’t ask for permission’
China controls several reefs in the South China Sea including Scarborough Shoal – which Beijing seized from Manila in 2012 – and is just 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon.
It has asserted its position by building small shoals and reefs into military bases with airstrips and port facilities.
After China occupied Mischief Reef in the mid-1990s, the Philippines sent a derelict naval vessel atop the nearby Second Thomas Shoal to assert Manila’s territorial claims. Members of the Philippine Marines are stationed there.
Locsin said the shoal was within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone, and warned that China’s “failure to take self-restraint measures threatens the special relationship” between the two countries.
“We don’t ask permission to do what we need to do in our territory,” he said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to pivot away from the United States, a former Philippine colony, toward China since coming to power in 2016 and has shown reluctance to confront Beijing.
But facing growing pressure at home to take a tougher line, Duterte insisted the Philippines’ sovereignty over the waters was non-negotiable.
Cabinet Minister Karlo Nograles said on Thursday: “We will continue to assert our sovereignty … over our territory.”
In July, Duterte backtracked on his decision to scrap a key military agreement – the Visiting Forces Agreement – with the United States during a visit by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.
In a joint statement released this week, the two countries reaffirmed “our treaty commitments” including “our obligation to respond to an armed attack in the Pacific Region on the United States or Philippines.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
