MANILA – The Chinese language coast guard boarded Philippine navy vessels and broken and confiscated tools in a conflict that left a sailor critically injured this week, the Philippines introduced Wednesday, in a pointy escalation of tensions over the hotly contested South China Sea.
The incident described underscores a severe escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, particularly around Second Thomas Shoal, which has been a focal point of disputes between China and the Philippines. Here’s a summary of the key points from the article:
- Conflict Details: Chinese coast guard vessels reportedly rammed Philippine navy ships to prevent them from resupplying a stranded Philippine warship at Second Thomas Shoal. This action resulted in damage to Philippine vessels and equipment, and a Filipino sailor was critically injured, losing a finger in the collision.
- International Response: Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the United States condemned China’s actions as undermining regional peace and stability. The U.S. reiterated its commitment to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, indicating that an armed attack on Philippine ships could trigger a U.S. military response.
- Military Involvement: The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is closely monitoring the situation and providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support to the Philippines. However, there has been no formal request from the Philippines for direct military assistance from the U.S. at this time.
- Confrontation Details: Videos shared by the Philippine military depict aggressive actions by the Chinese coast guard, including using pickaxes and knives to damage Filipino rubber boats and confiscating equipment. Chinese vessels also allegedly used sirens and tear gas during the incident, creating chaos.
- Regional Implications: The incident at Second Thomas Shoal is part of broader tensions in the South China Sea, where overlapping territorial claims have led to confrontations between China and several Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines.
Overall, this incident highlights the volatile nature of the South China Sea disputes and the potential for broader regional instability despite international calls for peaceful resolutions.
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No less than seven different Filipino sailors have been additionally injured. Chinese language ships later towed two Philippine rubber boats after emptying them of their contents.
“That is piracy,” Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of employees of the Philippine armed forces, stated at a information convention in Palawan, an island province 120 miles from the reef. “They boarded our ships illegally, they took our tools. “They’re like pirates with the actions they carried out.” Brawner added that Philippine navy personnel “countered again,” however the Chinese language have been considerably outnumbered and selected to not use weapons.
“Our aim is that whereas we wish to get provides to our troops following worldwide legal guidelines, our aim can also be to keep away from struggle. “We don’t desire a struggle,” he said.
At a information convention on Wednesday, Chinese language Overseas Ministry spokesman Lin Jian blamed the Philippines for the confrontation and claimed that Philippine ships have been transporting development supplies and weapons as a part of a long-term occupation of the Second Thomas Shoal, which China opposes. “The Chinese language Coast Guard took skilled and reasonable coercive measures,” Lin Jian stated, including that Chinese language forces “didn’t take direct measures in opposition to Filipino personnel.”
Earlier this week, Gan Yu, a spokesman for the Chinese language Coast Guard, stated Philippine replenishment ships got here “intentionally and dangerously” near a Chinese language ship, inflicting a collision.
China has sought to dominate the South China Sea, a strategic waterway additionally partly claimed by six different governments. Backed by the USA, the Philippines has been stepping up its efforts to counter the Chinese language, however is working right into more and more forceful response from Beijing. that safety analysts say might spur broader battle around the pacific.
Nowhere is the scenario extra precarious than at Second Thomas Shoal, stated Zack Cooper, a senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute, the place he research U.S. technique in Asia. The sandbar is among the solely locations the place Chinese language and Filipino forces dispute management of bodily territory. In 1999, the Philippines ran the Sierra Madre aground on the sandbar and has since populated it with a contingent of sailors to create a human presence and declare their proper to the reef.
“It is probably the most problematic space when it comes to resulting in actual, real battle,” Cooper stated. What occurred on Monday was “very critical,” he added, and would probably result in requires the USA to intervene.
Earlier this month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. advised a safety summit in Singapore that the loss of life of a Filipino citizen by way of an “intentional act” could be “near an act of struggle” that would immediate a army response. “Our treaty accomplice maintains the identical commonplace,” he stated, referring to the USA.
However the Philippines additionally needs to be cautious about turning to the USA, stated Julio Amador, a Manila-based safety analyst. The Philippines has been accused by Beijing of being a “pawn” of the USA, an accusation that senior Philippine officers have rejected. Finishing up the resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal within the face of an imposing Chinese language presence is an “train of company” for the Philippines, Amador stated. The federal government “desires to have the ability to do that with out having to ask for assist,” he stated.
No Philippine ships have been capable of attain the Sierra Madre on Monday to offer provides to the troops stationed on board, however the navy will strive once more, Brawner stated. “We’ll defend our rights and combat for our future,” he stated.
Ship monitoring information confirmed that as of Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Chinese language ships have been nonetheless surrounding Second Thomas Shoal. A 12,000-ton Chinese language coast guard ship, most likely the most important of its form on the earth, was additionally crusing towards the Philippine island of Thitu, close to Second Thomas, stated Ray Powell, an analyst on the Gordian Nationwide Analysis Middle. from Stanford College. Innovation in safety.
Tan reported from Singapore. Lyric Li in Seoul and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.
