FIVE CHINA Coast Guard (CCG) ships entered Manila’s territorial waters on Sunday, during an incident where a Philippine government ship was hit by a Chinese vessel near Thitu Island in the South China Sea, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said on Monday.
The Sunday incident was the closest encounter yet between Chinese maritime forces and Philippine vessels within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as a CCG ship rammed a government vessel about 2.8 kilometers away from Thitu.
The Philippines maintains a military outpost on Thitu Island in the disputed Spratlys, PCG spokesman Jay Tristan Tarriela told a news briefing.
“This is the closest that the Chinese Coast Guard harassed and bullied a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel (BFAR),” he said.
The Philippines on Sunday accused Chinese vessels of conducting “dangerous and provocative maneuvers” against its ships near Thitu. A CCG spokesman said Beijing took “necessary control measures” to expel the ships that allegedly intruded into the disputed Sandy Cay.
Mr. Tarriela said the government ships near the Philippine island were operating in the area to ensure the safety and security of Filipino fisherfolk, “knowing for a fact that they are always subject to harassment and bullying activities.”
China on Monday urged the Philippines not to challenge its efforts to “safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
China urges the Philippines to immediately stop “violations and provocations,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, told a press briefing in Beijing.
China and the Philippines traded accusations on Sunday over a maritime confrontation near Sandy Cay, a coral reef within the Spratly Islands.
Thitu, which the Philippines calls Pag-asa, is part of the resource-rich Spratly Islands. It is about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from China’s air and naval base at Subi Reef. The island is the largest of the Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratlys and is the only one with a permanent civilian settlement.
Competing claims between the Philippines and China in the disputed waters have led to frequent confrontations involving repeated use of water cannons and sideswiping maneuvers against Philippine ships.
Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea via a U-shaped, 1940s nine-dash line map that overlaps with the exclusive waters of the Philippines and neighbors like Vietnam and Malaysia despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that voided its claims.
Mr. Tarriela said the PCG also monitored 15 Chinese maritime militia vessels and a People’s Liberation Army-Navy warship near where the BFAR ship was rammed.
The Philippine government earlier this year launched a program aimed at sustaining the presence of Filipino fishers near contested areas in the country’s western seaboard, which have become flashpoints amid China’s increasingly assertive claims over the South China Sea.
RESUPPLY MISSIONThe PCG and BFAR resupplied Filipino fishermen operating near disputed maritime features in the South China Sea on Oct. 8, defying heightened Chinese presence in the contested waters.
In a statement on Wednesday, the coast guard said it had delivered thousands of liters worth of fuel, tons of crushed ice and hundreds of food packs to fishermen off Scarborough and Sabina shoals, despite what it described as “aggressive actions” by Chinese vessels.
Access to Scarborough Shoal has been restricted for Filipinos after China seized control of the atoll in 2012 following a standoff with Philippines forces. It is a vast fishing lagoon that lies within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
Philippine Coast Guard said it deployed the 96.6-meter BRP Teresa Magbanua, its biggest multi-role ship, and the 44-meter patrol ship BRP Cape San Agustin to Scarborough Shoal to support six BFAR vessels that distributed aid to Filipino fishing boats.
Manila’s coast guard said it monitored seven China Coast Guard ships and 10 Chinese militia vessels in the disputed feature, with a Chinese Navy ship issuing a radio warning of a live-five exercise near the Philippine resupply point.
Philippine authorities also distributed about 48,000 liters of fuel to more than 35 fishing boats at Sabina Shoal within the heavily contested Spratly Islands, which are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam aside from China.
The PCG deployed its second 96.6-meter multi-role ship BRP Melchora Aquino and the 44-meter patrol ship BRP Cabra to Sabina, where it accused a Chinese military helicopter of intimidating the Filipino fishing party by performing “low-altitude monitoring flights.”
Manila’s fishery bureau sent five ships to the disputed shoal, where eight Chinese Coast Guard ships and nine militia vessels were observed during the resupply mission, the PCG said.
The Marcos administration has recalibrated the Philippines’ South China Sea strategy, deepening security ties with allies and launching missions to support fishers in contested waters, all while pursuing upgrades to the country’s aging fleet. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio with Reuters