ASEAN HEADLINE-ASIA GEOPOLITICS | WEST PHILIPPINE SEA: ‘Barbaric’: 2 new reports of Chinese harassment

China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels, backed by two Chinese navy hovercraft, harassed and chased Philippine boats that carried marine scientists conducting surveys at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal near where the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) found crushed corals that had been dumped.

At a press briefing on Friday, Commodore Jay Tarriela, the PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the marine scientists, escorted by the PCG’s BRP Teresa Magbanua, were conducting research at Escoda, about 139 kilometers west of Palawan, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tarriela said the harassment of the marine scientists was the latest committed by the CCG in the West Philippine Sea in less than a month.

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‘Barbaric, inhumane’

He said a CCG vessel “intentionally rammed” a Philippine boat carrying a sick Navy sailor while other Chinese ships blocked other Philippine boats on a medical evacuation mission on May 19, the same day that the Chinese coast guard seized supplies for troops deployed on the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

Tarriela denounced that “barbaric and inhumane” action by the Chinese.

READ: ‘Barbaric and inhumane’: China ship rams boat carrying sick PH soldier

In the June 3 to June 4 incident at Escoda, China deployed four CCG vessels, two choppers, and a hovercraft to interfere with marine scientific research, he said.

At that time, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) also was conducting maritime exercises in the area. “Interestingly, the PLA Navy 987 contacted MRRV 9701 (Teresa Magbanua) informing us that they are going to have an amphibious drill or operation,” Tarriela said.

But before they informed the PCG of their drills, China already launched their hovercraft, he said.

2-day UP study

“This is the first time the Philippine Coast Guard documented the deployment of (Chinese) hovercraft in the West Philippine Sea,” Tarriela said.

Hovercrafts are lifted by an air cushion so they could travel across water or land. They are normally used for transport and rescue.

The Teresa Magbanua, the largest vessel of the PCG, has been at Escoda since April this year, following the PCG report on dumped crushed corals at the shoal. The PCG saw this as a prelude to another Chinese island-building activity.

Speaking at the same press briefing, Jonathan Anticamara of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Biology said that after their two-day study, his group believed that parts of Escoda were already “ecological disaster” sites.

“I predict almost all of the corals in the shallow waters of Escoda Shoal are now dead. That is an ecological disaster,” Anticamara said.

“What we found on the first day is that the bleaching is very extensive to the extent that what we saw and documented across the area is that the corals are almost 100-percent dead,” he added.

According to Anticamara, the only fish species left in the shoal were the ones not dependent on coral reefs.

“Whether it is fully natural or partially man-made, there are still data sets that need to be combined to be able to say the definite conclusion in that part,” he said, referring to the dead corals at Escoda.

In general, Anticamara said the West Philippine Sea now “is really in an alarming and severely degraded state.”

He said it would be “a struggle in the next few years for the corals to come back” to their natural state because of the “high” amount of biodiversity losses in the West Philippines.

Beijing sets terms

Commenting on the May 19 encounter between the Filipinos and the Chinese, China on Friday said it would allow the Philippines to deliver supplies and evacuate personnel if Manila notified Beijing ahead of a mission.

“However, the Philippines may not use this as an excuse to transport materials of construction to its naval vessels in an attempt to permanently occupy Ren’ai Jiao,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing, using the Chinese name for Ayungin.

Tarriela said in a statement that even after they informed the CCG via radio and a public address system about the “humanitarian nature of our mission for medical evacuation,” the Chinese still engaged in “dangerous maneuvers and even intentionally rammed” the Philippine Navy’s rigid hull inflatable boat.

That incident, according to him, happened 28.6 kilometers off the northeast entrance of Ayungin.

‘Simple’ evacuation

The sailor was being evacuated from the Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship that has been deliberately grounded in 1999 to serve as a Philippine military outpost at the shoal.

“What should have been a simple medical evacuation operation was subjected to harassment, with the excessive deployment of two China Coast Guard vessels (21551 and 21555), two small boats and two rubber boats,” Tarriela said.

“Their actions clearly demonstrated their intention to prevent the sick personnel from receiving the proper medical attention he urgently needed,” he said. “The barbaric and inhumane behavior displayed by the China Coast Guard has no place in our society.”

But despite the blockade from CCG vessels, the Philippine Navy and CCG boats “successfully outmaneuvered the numerous CCG assets” and transferred the sick personnel to Buliluyan Port in Palawan province, according to Tarriela.

The sick sailor was safely taken to a Palawan hospital where he was given immediate medical attention at 3:25 p.m. on May 19, he said.

First try failed

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. had told reporters that the first attempt to transport the sick Navy man a day earlier failed due to the Chinese blockade.

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China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, waters within the Philippines’ 370-km exclusive economic zone.

Beijing refuses to accept an international arbitral tribunal ruling in 2016 invalidating its historical claims and its nine-dash-line demarcation of its waters without legal basis.

It has become more aggressive in blocking supplies for the Sierra Madre and often deploys water cannons against Philippine supply boats headed to the shoal. —WITH A REPORT FROM REUTERS