HEADLINE | US State Department, Washington- US backs Philippine in new dispute with China
HEADLINE
Marcos summons Chinese envoy
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Beijing blames Philippines for laser incident
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MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos summoned China’s ambassador yesterday to relay his “serious concern” over the actions of Chinese ships against the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.
The development came a day after the PCG reported an incident on Feb. 6 wherein a Chinese coast guard ship beamed a military-grade laser light on PCG vessel BRP Malapascua, which was then assisting in the delivery of provisions to a Philippine military outpost on Ayungin Shoal.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Wenbin, however, blamed the Philippines for the incident, saying the Chinese coast guard’s action was “in accordance with China’s domestic law and international law,” as the Philippine vessel “intruded” into the area without permission
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US backs Philippine in new dispute with China
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THE United States renewed a warning that it would defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under attack in the disputed South China Sea, after a Chinese coast guard ship allegedly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some of its crew.
The incident took place on February 6 when the Chinese coast guard ship beamed high-grade lasers to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching Second Thomas Shoal on a resupply mission to Filipino forces there, according to the Philippine officials.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said China’s “dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law and undermines the rules-based international order.”
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THREE countries, through their ambassadors in the Philippines, have joined the United States in expressing serious concern over the “dangerous” and “unsafe” actions against Philippine vessels by China in the South China Sea (SCS).
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa, Australian Ambassador to Manila Hae Kyong Yu, and Canadian Ambassador David Hartman, in separate tweets, called for “respect for international law.”
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies,” Price said in a statement.
He said that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the coast guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under a 1951 treaty.
The treaty obligates the allies to help defend one another in case of an external attack.
China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety, putting it on a collision course with other claimants.
Chinese naval forces have been accused of using military-grade lasers previously against Australian military aircraft on patrol in the South China Sea and other spots in the Pacific.
Despite friendly overtures to Beijing by former president Rodrigo Duterte and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January in Beijing, tensions have persisted, drawing in a closer military alliance between the Philippines and the US.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday that a Philippine coast guard vessel trespassed into Chinese waters without permission.
Chinese coast guard vessels responded “professionally and with restraint at the site in accordance with China’s law and international law,” he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of laser.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, where a bulk of the world’s commerce and oil transits.
Washington lays no claims to the disputed sea but has deployed forces to patrol the waters to promote freedom of navigation and overflight — moves that have angered Beijing, which has warned Washington to stop meddling in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.
The contested waters have become a volatile front in the broader rivalry between the US and China in Asia and beyond.
Price said the Chinese coast guard’s “provocative and unsafe” conduct interfered with the Philippines’ “lawful operations” in and around Second Thomas Shoal.
In July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington was obligated to defend the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
On Monday, Price reiterated that the “legally binding decision” underscored that China “has no lawful maritime claims to the Second Thomas Shoal.”
China has long rejected the ruling and continues to defy it.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin on Monday insisted that the Ren’ai Reef is part of China’s Nansha Islands.
In a statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in Manila, Wang said that on February 6, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel “intruded into the waters off the Ren’ai Reef (or Ayungin Shoal) without Chinese permission.”
He said that in accordance with China’s domestic law and international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), the China Coast Guard ship “upheld China’s sovereignty and maritime order and acted in a professional and restrained way.”
“We hope the Philippine side will respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and avoid taking any actions that may exacerbate disputes and complicate the situation,” he said.
“China and the Philippines are in communication on this through diplomatic channels,” Wang added.
Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros, however, rejected Wang’s explanation.
“China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is lying,” she said.
“It cannot claim that the Chinese Coast Guard ship acted in accordance with international law, when the 2016 arbitral tribunal that ruled against China’s baseless 9-dash-line claim was constituted precisely under the Unclos,” she said in a statement.
The senator said Ayungin is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. “The Unclos affirms this.”
“The wider international community recognizes this. It is only China’s authoritarian government that seems to think otherwise,” Hontiveros said.
She told China’s MoFA “to stop lying and stick to the truth: that China is using her military might to justify her blatant and dangerous disregard for international law, with her flimsy historical ‘claim’ as an excuse.”
The Philippines filed nearly 200 diplomatic protests against China’s aggressive actions in the disputed waters in 2022 alone.
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