Manila accused Beijing on Friday of Chinese ships firing water cannons and making “dangerous manoeuvres” towards Philippine vessels resupplying at a remote military post, the latest incident in relations between the two countries in the disputed South China Sea, CNN reports.
As reported by the Philippines, their vessel M/L Kalayaan was participating in a routine supply mission for troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas Bank area. At that time, a Chinese Coast Guard ship opened water cannon fire on it.
The Philippines also claims Chinese Coast Guard and maritime police inflatables subjected the two Philippine vessels to «reckless and dangerous» harassment.
The BRP Sierra Madre is a former US Navy ship that the Philippines grounded in 1999 off Second Thomas Shoal, known in Manila as Ayungin Shoal and in Beijing as Ren’ai Reef, to assert its claims to the area. China hotly disputes these claims, and the two countries have recently clashed with increasing frequency over this disputed waterway.
According to Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu, two small transport vessels and three Philippine maritime police vessels “entered waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef in China’s Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government.”
The statement asserted that China has “indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters, including Ren’ai Reef” and “the actions of the Philippine side violate China’s territorial sovereignty” and called on Manila to “immediately cease its violating actions.” The latest incident in the Second Thomas Shoal area of the Spratly Islands comes nearly three weeks after Beijing and Manila blamed each other for two clashes in the same area.
Philippine troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre live in spartan conditions on the corroded wreckage of a World War II-era ship and depend on regular supplies. Despite the clash on Friday, the Philippine government said the cargo delivery mission had been completed.
The Philippine Embassy in Beijing has protested to the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the latest incident. China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost the entire South China Sea and most of the islands and sandbanks in it, including many sites hundreds of miles from mainland China, in defiance of a 2016 international court ruling in favour of the Philippines.
The South China Sea is widely seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict. Recent clashes between Manila and Beijing have raised fears among Western observers that if China, a world power, decides to take stronger action against the Philippines, a US treaty ally, the disputes could escalate into an international incident.
