PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Chinese coast guard ship approaches a Philippine coast guard ship, foreground, causing a minor collision, near Second Thomas Shoal on Tuesday. The ships collided in the disputed South China Sea, lightly injuring 4 members of the Philippine team in a new standoff that spread as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for an Asian summit where the alarm was expected to sound about Beijing’s offshore aggression.
MANILA>> Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships collided in the disputed South China Sea and four members of the Philippine team were injured Tuesday in clashes on the high seas as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for an Asian summit where the alarm would sound about Beijing’s maritime aggression. .
Chinese coast guard ships and accompanying ships blocked Philippine and home coast guard ships off the questionable Second Thomas Bank and executed damaging maneuvers that led to two minor collisions between the Chinese ships and two of the Philippine ships, Philippine officials said.
The Philippine Coast Guard Sindangan BRP suffered minor structural damage as a result of the collision that occurred shortly after dawn. More than an hour later, another Chinese coast guard ship first blocked and then collided with a source ship that the Philippine coast guard was escorting, Philippine officials said.
The source ship, piloted by members of the Philippine Navy, was hit by water cannon fire from two Chinese coast guard ships. Its windshield shattered, injuring at least four members of the Philippine team, according to a report by the Philippine government’s Working Group on Territorial Disputes. .
The working group said the Chinese moves constituted “another illegal attempt to impede or impede a regime rotation and resupply mission. “
“The latest acts of coercion and unprovoked harmful maneuvers by China” against Philippine ships destined to deliver materials and new troops to the Philippines-occupied bank “have endangered the lives of our people and caused serious injuries to Filipinos,” he said. saying.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Manila summoned the Chinese deputy ambassador to his protests against the Chinese coast guard’s moves, which he considered unacceptable.
“The Philippines demands that Chinese ships leave the vicinity of the Ayungin sandbar without delay,” the Philippine subsidiary of the disputed bank said in a statement.
A small contingent of Philippine Marines stood guard aboard a rusty warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, abandoned since the late 1990s in the shallow waters of the Second Thomas Shoal.
China also claims the sandbar off the western Philippines and has surrounded the atoll with coast guards, military and other vessels to assert its rights and prevent Philippine forces from handing over structures to the Sierra Madre in a decades-long stalemate.
The sandbar has been the scene of several tense skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels during the year.
China’s coast guard said in a statement that it “has taken control measures in accordance with the law against Philippine vessels that illegally entered the waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef,” as Beijing calls the Thomas bank.
A spokesperson for the Chinese coast guard said a Philippine shipment intentionally rammed a Chinese coast guard ship, with a minor scratch.
Washington strongly condemned the Chinese coast guard’s moves, and its ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, said the United States supports the Philippines and supporters of foreign law. Australia and Japan have expressed fear over China’s moves.
Long-standing territorial disputes in the South China Sea will be addressed on Wednesday at a summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their Australian counterpart in Melbourne.
On Monday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in the Australian city that his administration would “do whatever it takes” to deal with any risk to his country’s territory, but under pressure for Manila to continue “following the path of discussion. “and diplomacy” to differences with China.
The Philippines and Vietnam plan to sound the alarm about China’s competitive moves in disputed waters at the summit, a senior Southeast Asian diplomat told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it was not legal to discuss the factor publicly.
Philippine security officials have accused the Chinese coast guard and suspected defense force vessels of blocking Philippine ships and employing military-grade water cannons and a laser that temporarily blinded some members of the Philippine team in a series of clashes on the high seas last year.
The Chinese embassy in Manila accused the Philippines of making common provocative moves in the South China Sea and said China had acted “in accordance with the law of its own sovereignty, rights and interests. “
These clashes have raised fears of a broader standoff that could simply involve the United States.
Chinese and Philippine officials met in Shanghai in January and agreed to take steps to ease tensions, but their latest encounter at sea underscores the difficulty of achieving that.
The United States has warned that it has a legal responsibility to the Philippines, its oldest best friend in Asia, if Philippine forces, ships and aircraft are targeted in an armed attack, including in the South China Sea. China has warned the United States to avoid meddling in what it calls a purely Asian dispute.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping rights to this strategic waterway, a global industry main direction that is also believed to be on top of rich undersea oil and fuel deposits.
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