MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military chief said Monday he was aboard a supply boat with Philippine forces when it was fired upon with a water cannon and surrounded and approached by Chinese coast guard ships in the disputed South China Sea over the weekend.
Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told the Associated Press in a telephone interview that China is escalating its aggression in the disputed waters, but said that will not deter Philippine forces from defending the Philippines' territorial interests in the busy waterway.
More than 100 Chinese government ships and suspected militia ships are swarming at sea around the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where a long-stranded Philippine navy ship that Brawner visited has been moored for decades. He said the swarm of Chinese ships was much larger than in previous months.
“This is pure aggression,” Brawner said of China’s maneuvers on the high seas. “I witnessed how often the large ships of the Chinese coast guard and militias blocked our path. They fired water cannons at us and then pushed us. It’s annoying.”
“This really requires a higher level diplomatic solution,” he said, but added that the Philippine “armed forces will continue our mission because it is legitimate and it is our duty to resupply our troops on the front lines, and “It is our duty to protect our fishermen.”
Brawner, the U.S.-trained chief of the 150,000-strong Philippine Armed Forces, accompanied Marine personnel on a wooden-hulled supply boat, the Unnaiza Mae 1, that was carrying Christmas presents, food and other supplies to a small contingent of Filipino Marines and Marine personnel aboard the BRP Sierra Madre is stationed at Second Thomas Shoal.
Although now riddled with rust and holes, the BRP Sierra Madre remains an actively commissioned vessel of the Philippine Navy, meaning any attack on it will be considered an act of war. It has become a fragile symbol of the Philippines' territorial claims on the strategic waterway, which China claims virtually all of it.
After the Philippines deliberately grounded the Sierra Madre in the shallows of Scarborough Shoal in 1999, China surrounded the atoll with its coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships to isolate Philippine forces there. The years-long territorial dispute flared up again and again, becoming one of the most sensitive flashpoints in the South China Sea and a thorny fault line in the regional rivalry between the US and China.
The United States has repeatedly warned that it is committed to defending the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if armed attacks come against Philippine forces, ships or aircraft, including in the South China Sea. China has warned the US against interfering in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.
Brawner said he conveyed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Christmas greetings to the Philippine Armed Forces aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, where he shared a traditional hand-eaten rice lunch with them.
The Foreign Ministry in Manila said it summoned the Chinese ambassador on Monday and lodged diplomatic protests against Beijing.
A spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard, Commodore Jay Tarriela, called the Chinese coast guard's actions “barbaric” in a news conference and said the Philippine coast guard would not use its water cannons against China's ships.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri called on Marcos to order the expulsion of the Chinese ambassador, but the Marcos government has not indicated how it would respond to the call.
On Sunday, Marcos said that “the aggressions and provocations carried out by the Chinese Coast Guard and its Chinese maritime militia against our vessels and personnel over the weekend undermine our determination to defend and protect the sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction of our country.” , have only strengthened it even further”. the South China Sea.
Over the weekend, Philippine officials said Chinese coast guard and suspected militia vessels attacked Filipino ships with water cannons for two days in a row, ramming one, causing damage and endangering Filipino crew members off Second Thomas Shoal and separately in Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
The Philippines joined the United States and Japan in condemning the maneuvers by the Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships. More than a dozen countries, including the European Union, Germany, France, Canada and Australia, also expressed support for the Philippines and expressed concern over the incident, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza said.
Philippine officials said Chinese coast guard high-pressure water cannons disabled and damaged the engines of the Philippine supply ship M/L Kalayaan, which had to be towed back to a Philippine port.
One of two Philippine Coast Guard escort ships, the BRP Cabra, suffered mast damage from the water cannon explosion.
The Chinese Coast Guard said it “carried out inspections in accordance with laws and regulations.” The statement did not give details of the measures taken, but said the Philippines' actions “seriously violate China's sovereignty.”
It also said a Philippine ship ignored warnings and made a sharp turn in an “unprofessional and dangerous manner” in violation of international shipping regulations and intentionally collided with a Chinese Coast Guard vessel, causing “scratches.”
“The responsibility lies solely with the Philippine side,” the Chinese Coast Guard said.
The US State Department said the Chinese ship's actions were “dangerous and unlawful” and undermined regional stability. It renewed its pledge to defend the Philippine armed forces in the event of an armed attack.
China has rejected all international condemnations and attempts at legal intervention, including a 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed arbitration tribunal that invalidated China's claims and stripped them of any legal basis. China says it has a legal right to “defend its sovereignty” in line with its expansive claim to the South China Sea.
On Saturday, the Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships also trained water cannons on three Philippine fishing vessels, causing damage to one, to prevent them from approaching Scarborough Shoal in the disputed waters off the northwestern Philippines, Philippine officials said.
They added that suspected Chinese militia ships used a long-range acoustic device that could impair hearing, causing “temporary severe discomfort and incapacitation to some Filipino crew members.”
In other high-seas collisions this year, Philippine officials said Chinese coast guard ships used a military-grade laser that temporarily blinded Filipino crew members and carried out dangerous blocking and shadowing maneuvers that led to smaller collisions.
___
Associated Press journalists Aaron Favila and Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.