Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed to defend his nation’s territory after two extra confrontations with Chinese language vessels in contested elements of the South China Sea over the weekend. The 2 incidents, considered one of which concerned a collision between a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel and a Philippine resupply ship, befell within the neighborhood of Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal, the positioning of quite a few latest skirmishes between the 2 nations.
“The aggression and provocations perpetrated by the China Coast Guard and their Chinese language Maritime Militia in opposition to our vessels and personnel over the weekend have solely additional steeled our willpower to defend and defend our nation’s sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction within the West Philippine Sea,” Marcos mentioned in a statement, utilizing his authorities’s time period for its portion of the South China Sea.
“Nobody however the Philippines has a respectable proper or authorized foundation to function wherever within the West Philippine Sea,” Marcos added. “The unlawful presence in our waters and harmful actions in opposition to our residents is an outright and blatant violation of worldwide regulation and the rules-based worldwide order.”
The second and extra severe of the 2 confrontations befell yesterday within the neighborhood of Second Thomas Shoal within the Spratly Islands. In keeping with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the CCG and Chinese language maritime militia ships “harassed, blocked, and executed harmful maneuvers on Philippine civilian provide vessels,” with a purpose to stop the Philippine forces from resupplying the small detachment of troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusting warship that it purposefully grounded on the shoal in 1999.
In a statement posted on X (previously Twitter), PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela accused the CCG of ramming one of many provide vessels, Unaizah Mae 1, which was in search of to resupply the Philippine troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal within the Spratly Islands.
Tarriela additionally accused CCG of firing high-pressured water cannons at a second provide ship, M/L Kalayaan, inflicting it “extreme injury” to its engines, “disabling the vessel and critically endangering the lives of its crew.”
The water cannons have been additionally directed at a PCG vessel, BRP Cabra, which “suffered injury to its mast,” Tarriela mentioned. Whereas the M/L Kalayaan needed to be towed again to the western Philippine province of Palawan, he added, Unaizah Mae 1 “efficiently reached BRP Sierra Madre, and resupply is ongoing as of this writing.”
All of this got here a day after the Philippine authorities accused a CCG vessel of utilizing a water cannon “at the very least 8 occasions” at a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Assets (BFAR) vessel near Scarborough Shoal, which lies round 200 kilometers due west of Luzon island, based on the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea. The confrontation befell after Filipino fishermen noticed a Chinese language boat putting in a floating barrier on the southeast entrance of Scarborough Shoal, which Manila refers to as Bajo De Masinloc. In keeping with the Process Drive, the cannons resulted in “vital injury” to the BFAR vessel.
Each Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal, which lie inside the Philippines’ unique financial zone however are additionally enclosed by Beijing’s maximalist “nine-dash line” declare, have been the topic of concerted Chinese language strain campaigns in 2023. Beijing has imposed a casual blockade on Second Thomas Shoal. This has resulted in quite a few confrontations, together with one in October by which Chinese language vessels collided with a Philippine provide ship and navy vessel. Chinese language vessels have additionally used high-powered water cannons and a military-grade laser to drive away Philippine provide ships.
On the identical time, Chinese language ships have blocked Filipino fishermen from accessing the wealthy fishing grounds inside Scarborough Shoal. In September, they put in a submerged barrier to dam the doorway to the shoal’s central lagoon, which Philippine personnel later eliminated.
Unsurprisingly, the Chinese language authorities has superior its personal model of occasions, claiming that the Unaizah Mae 1 “made an unprofessional and harmful sudden flip, deliberately ramming into China Coast Guard vessel 21556.” Talking in Beijing, International Ministry spokesperson Gan Yu known as on the Philippines to stop its “provocative acts,” vowing that Chinese language vessels would proceed their “law-enforcement actions” inside the waters enclosed by the nine-dash line.
In a separate post on X, which responded to the Chinese language claims, Tarriela mentioned that the weekend’s incidents highlighted “China’s blatant inclination to interact in unlawful and hostile actions with a purpose to assert their self-serving declare within the West Philippine Sea.”
“They’ve proven no hesitation in violating worldwide regulation and even posing a menace to peace and the established rules-based order,” he mentioned. “It’s evident that they perform these unlawful actions as a result of they consider they will, profiting from the perceived vulnerability of nations just like the Philippines to claim their dominance.”
At this stage, it stays unclear when this spiral of escalation may come to an finish. Because the Philippines has responded to the aggressive Chinese language marketing campaign by strengthening its relations with the USA and different shut companions like Japan and Australia, Beijing has responded by intensifying its strain additional.
It additionally raises the query of when the U.S. authorities, which in an announcement yesterday condemned China’s “harmful and illegal actions,” may really feel an obligation to reply. On quite a few events, most not too long ago in yesterday’s assertion, U.S. officers have pledged to return to the Philippines’ support underneath the 1951 Mutual Protection Treaty, which “acknowledges that an armed assault within the Pacific Space on both of the Events could be harmful to its personal peace and security and declares that it might act to satisfy the widespread risks in accordance with its constitutional processes.”
When precisely the belligerent use of water cannons and ramming techniques crosses the road from a “grey zone” tactic, designed to fall wanting the edge of struggle, to a full-blown armed assault is imprecise and unclear. As Collin Koh of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam Faculty of Worldwide Research, wrote on X, “When your water cannon assault really prompted bodily injury, damage, and probably dying, it begs the query about whether or not it issues whether or not you utilize firearms or simply the kinetic drive of water to qualify as an ‘armed assault’.”
The latest sample of escalation from China means that it’s decided to check the mettle of each the Philippines and its long-time safety ally, sharply growing the probabilities that one aspect will make a catastrophic miscalculation, with dire implications for the area as an entire.