MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese coast guard ships used powerful water cannons and blocking maneuvers against 20 Philippine fishing boats off a disputed South China Sea shoal, injuring three Filipinos and damaging two of their boats in a life-threatening assault, the Philippine coast guard said Saturday.
Chinese coast guard personnel aboard smaller rubber boats later deliberately cut the anchor lines of several of the Philippine boats Friday afternoon off Sabina Shoal, “endangering the vessels and their crews amid strong currents and high waves,” the coast guard said.
The Chinese coast guard took “necessary control measures, including issuing verbal warnings and expelling by external means, in accordance with laws and regulations against multiple batches of Philippine vessels that deliberately intruded into the waters adjacent to Xianbin Jiao…under the pretext of fishing,” the Chinese Embassy in Manila cited coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun as saying in China in a statement. It used the Chinese name for Sabina shoal.
The Chinese coast guard “will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in waters under China’s jurisdiction in accordance with the law, resolutely safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” Liu said.
The South China Sea, a key global trade route, is claimed virtually in its entirety by China despite a 2016 arbitration ruling that declared Beijing’s expansive claim invalid based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. China dismissed the ruling as a sham and continues to defy it.
Two Philippine coast guard ships were deployed to help the Filipinos off Sabina but faced dangerous blocking maneuvers by the Chinese coast guard. One of the Chinese ships approached as close as 35 yards (105 feet) to one of the Philippine ships at nighttime, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said in an online news briefing.
“The Chinese coast guard is now targeting ordinary fishermen, ordinary civilians and they are endangering the lives of the Filipino fishermen,” Tarriela said.
“Despite these unprofessional and unlawful interferences, the Philippine coast guard successfully reached the fishermen this morning and provided immediate medical attention to the injured along with essential supplies,” the Philippine coast guard said Saturday, suggesting tensions had eased.
The Philippine coast guard called on the Chinese coast guard “to adhere to internationally recognized standards of conduct, prioritizing the preservation of life at sea over pretensions of law enforcement that jeopardize the lives of innocent fishermen.”
The United States has no claims in the South China Sea but it has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, including coast guard personnel, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack including in the disputed waters.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the territorial disputes, long considered an Asian flashpoint.