Philippines files protest vs China over collisions

By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES on Monday filed a diplomatic protest against China and summoned its envoy in Manila after Chinese ships on Sunday collided with Philippine vessels trying to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino troops at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. met with security agencies to “discuss the latest violation by China in the West Philippine Sea,” the presidential palace said in a statement, referring to areas of the South China Sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

“He instructed the Philippine Coast Guard to conduct an investigation, as mandated by international maritime laws, into the events that transpired during the rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal by vessels of the China Coast Guard,” it added.

The incident is “being taken seriously at the highest level of government,” it said, adding that the Chinese Coast Guard’s “dangerous, illegal and reckless maneuvers” had damaged a Philippine vessel.

The United States reaffirmed its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines, which compels both sides to defend each other in case of an armed attack.

The US State Department said the Chinese vessels violated international law by “intentionally interfering with the Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation.”

“The unsafe maneuvers on Oct. 22 and the PRC water cannoning of a Philippine vessel on Aug. 5 are the latest examples of provocative… measures in the South China Sea to enforce its expansive and unlawful maritime claims, reflecting disregard for other states lawfully operating in the region,” it said in a statement.

It reminded China that a provision in the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels and aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea. 

The Chinese Embassy in Manila said it had lodged stern representations to the Philippines over the “trespassing” of the Philippine vessels at Second Thomas Shoal.

It repeated China’s call for the Philippines to stop “causing trouble and provocation” at sea and end “groundless attacks and smearing” against China.

The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department had summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian but he was out of town, spokesperson Ma. Teresita C. Daza told a news briefing.

The diplomatic protest was given to the Chinese Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in a meeting on Monday morning, she added, noting that the usefulness of the communication mechanism created earlier this year to cool tensions between the two countries was “rather limited.”

Ms. Daza said the Chinese vessels’ dangerous maneuvers against the Philippine resupply mission on Sunday had “put into serious doubt the sincerity of the Chinese side” on the South China Sea issue.

“Ayungin Shoal is part of our exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and we have sovereign rights and jurisdiction over it,” she said in a separate statement.

China Coast Guard vessel 5203 collided with an Armed Forces of the Philippines-contracted indigenous resupply boat 13.5 nautical miles (25 kilometers) east-northeast of BRP Sierra Madre, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said on Sunday.

A Chinese maritime militia vessel had also bumped a Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel that was escorting the resupply mission about 6.4 nautical miles northeast of the shoal, it said.

BRP Sierra Madre is a World War II-era ship that the Philippines deliberately grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin, in 1999 to assert its sovereignty claim. The shoal is within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

‘DISASTROUS RESULTS’
The embassies of the US and Canada in Manila condemned the Chinese vessels’ action, saying these put the lives of Filipino crew at risk.

Unaizah Mae 2, one of the two boats contracted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the mission, was damaged by the collision, though nobody was hurt, Philippine National Security Council spokesman Jonathan M. Malaya told the same briefing.

He repeated his call for China to stop its “provocative actions,” warning that its continued attempts to block Philippine resupply missions could have “disastrous results.”

The damage amounted to “more than a scratch,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tristan T. Tarriela said, but the boat’s “seaworthiness” would be assessed further once it’s back in port.

“It’s not because of the damage that she incurred that she wasn’t able to deliver [the supplies] but because of the two Chinese maritime militia vessels and the Chinese Coast Guard from behind,” he said.

Despite the damage, the Chinese vessels did not stop “pushing” the boat away from Second Thomas Shoal, he added.

“The Chinese Coast Guard didn’t care whether she was damaged or whether she was unseaworthy,” Mr. Malaya said, noting that the maritime militia vessels were bigger than the two Philippine vessels that escorted the resupply boats.

Mr. Tarriela said five Chinese Coast Guard ships participated in the “shadowing, dangerous maneuvers and blocking” of the resupply mission, while eight Chinese maritime militia vessels blocked the Philippine ships.

Two Chinese Coast Guard vessels started tailing the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Cabra at 9 p.m. on Saturday before the AFP-contracted civilian vessels could even reach the area, Mr. Tarriela said.

When the mission started on Sunday morning, two Chinese militia vessels surrounded BRP Cabra to separate it from the supply boats. After the militia vessels trapped the escort ship, the Chinese Coast Guard crossed into the path of the Philippine boat Unaizah Mae 2, resulting in the collision.

The Sunday mission was partly successful, with only the Unaizah Mae 1 being able to deliver supplies to BRP Sierra Madre, Philippine officials said.

At a separate news briefing after Mr. Marcos’ meeting with security officials, Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. accused China of “deliberately obfuscating the truth” after the incident.

This was a “serious escalation of the illegal activities being conducted by China in the West Philippine Sea.”

He belied China’s claim that it practiced restraint. “Any unbiased person will see that this is not restraint, and there was another attempt to distort the narrative.”

At the same briefing, Philippine Coast Guard Vice Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan said the Chinese actions were clear violations of collision regulations.

He said the coast guard would investigate the incidents and submit a report to the President through the Transportation department.

The incident bodes ill for the future of Philippines-China relations, said Joshua Bernard Espeña, who teaches international relations at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

“We can expect Philippine-China relations to be at an all-time low under the Marcos administration,” he said via Messenger chat. “Agitating China is one thing, but deterring China is another.”

He said the government should get more serious about acquiring capabilities for the military, while boosting ties with its foreign allies.