June 18, 2024
MANILA – Chinese ships rammed and towed Philippine vessels on a rotation and resupply (Rore) mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal on Monday, causing damage and endangering the lives of Filipino sailors, Philippine officials said.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea accused the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N), China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese maritime militia (CMM) vessels of engaging in “dangerous maneuvers, including ramming and towing,” without going into the details of the incident.
We strongly condemn the illegal, aggressive and reckless actions of the PLA-N, CCG and CMM. Their actions put at risk the lives of our personnel and damaged our boats, in blatant violation of international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the task force said.
US statement
Filipino sailors also displayed restraint and professionalism, refrained from escalating the tension, and carried on with their mission despite China’s actions.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. also condemned the incident, saying that China’s “behavior contravenes their statements of good faith and decency… It should now be clear to the international community that China’s actions are the true obstacles to peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson also issued a statement saying the United States “condemns the PRC’s aggressive, dangerous maneuvers near Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, which caused bodily injury, damaged Philippine vessels, and hindered lawful maritime operations to supply food, water, and essential supplies to Philippine personnel within the Philippines exclusive economic zone.”
Earlier, the CCG said that a Philippine vessel “deliberately and dangerously” approached the Chinese ship in an “unprofessional” manner and ignored its repeated “solemn warnings,” resulting in the collision.
Using the Chinese names for Ayungin and the Spratly Islands, the CCG had accused the Philippine side of having “illegally broken into the sea near Ren’ai Reef in China’s Nansha Islands” at 5:59 a.m. on Monday.
‘Deceptive, misleading’
China “took control measures against the Philippine vessels in accordance with law,” Beijing’s coast guard said.
The AFP also took strong exception to China’s allegations, calling its account of the collision “deceptive and misleading.”
“The main issue remains to be the illegal presence and actions of Chinese vessels within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which infringes on our sovereignty and sovereign rights. The continued aggressive actions of the CCG are escalating tensions in the region,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said.
“The AFP will not discuss operational details on the legal humanitarian Rore mission at Ayungin Shoal, which is well within our EEZ,” she added.
Ayungin lies within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer EEZ, some 194 km off Palawan province. To protect the country’s sovereignty claims in those waters, the Sierra Madre hosts a small number of Filipino soldiers, requiring regular Rore missions often subjected to Chinese harassment.
The collision on Monday happened as China’s new coast guard rules took effect over the weekend. Under the said rules, the CCG can detain foreigners for up to 60 days for alleged trespassing in Beijing-claimed waters.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, overlapping its claims with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Beijing continues to ignore the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims.
Not PCG operation
Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson, said the agency was not in a position to provide any details since Monday’s Rore mission was not a coast guard operation.
Ray Powell of the SeaLight project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, who tracks operations at Ayungin and other parts of the South China Sea through satellite imagery, has observed “a departure from previous resupplies” in which the PCG played a critical role and the government quickly disclosed developments regarding those missions.
“Based on the statements released by the AFP and the PCG this was almost exclusively an AFP operation, which is a departure from previous resupplies in which the PCG played a critical role,” he told the Inquirer.
“Moreover, the AFP appears to be very concerned about operational security, at the expense of the transparency that characterized previous missions,” he said. “Hopefully, we will see more information emerge in the days ahead once the security concerns have subsided.”
Based on Powell’s tracking, the PCG’s BRP Bagacay was intercepted by Chinese maritime militia ship Qiong Sansha Yu 00103 around 8 a.m. at approximately 37 km (20 nautical miles) southeast of Ayungin. But it later “turned north and entered an area thick with China’s militia vessels” 33 km (18 nautical miles) due east of Ayungin.
“Not clear why, unless to lend aid to resupply vessel possibly in that area? This is educated guesswork on my part,” he wrote.
The task force has been regularly publicizing incidents of Chinese harassment in the West Philippine Sea, even inviting journalists onboard patrol ships to report what they witness.
But this has changed in recent months after what happened in March.
Last month, the CCG seized food supplies dropped by a plane for troops at the Sierra Madre and harassed sick personnel being evacuated from the grounded vessel. The twin incidents were reported more than two weeks later.
Monday’s incident was not the first reported collision involving Chinese ships in Philippine waters.
In October last year, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea reported that a CCG ship made “dangerous blocking maneuvers,” colliding with one of two boats used by the Philippine Navy for Rore missions to Ayungin.
During that same mission, the port (left-hand) side of a PCG vessel was also “bumped” by a Chinese maritime militia vessel.
In December, the CCG rammed and fired water cannons at PCG vessels during another Rore mission to Ayungin.
In March this year, a CCG vessel caused a minor collision with Philippine Navy-chartered boat Unaizah May 4. A water cannon attack by CCG vessels also left four Filipino crew members injured. —with a report from Inquirer Research