The Philippines needs to do more than protest Beijing’s “illegal actions” in the South China Sea, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said yesterday.
China Coast Guard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe surrounded and boarded three Philippine navy boats last week, video showed, foiling what Manila said was a resupply mission to troops manning a grounded warship on Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙).
It was the latest and most serious incident in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships as Beijing steps up efforts to take control of the feature, which Taiwan also claims.
Photo: Reuters
“We have filed over a hundred protests, we have already made a similar number of demarches,” Marcos told reporters.
“We have to do more than just that,” he said, without specifying what other steps Manila might take.
Manila has also raised concerns that Chinese forces might take action against the BRP Sierra Madre, an aging ship that was deliberately grounded on the shoal in 1999 to assert Philippine claims to the area.
A small garrison of marines stationed aboard the decrepit vessel relies on frequent resupply for survival.
Marcos echoed his senior security aides’ assessment that the clash on Monday last week next to the grounded warship did not constitute an armed attack.
“It’s not armed. There was no gunshot. They did not point a gun at us, but it was a deliberate action to stop our people,” Marcos said. “So, although there were no arms involved, nonetheless, it is still a deliberate action and it is essentially an illegal action that was taken by Chinese forces.”
A Philippine soldier lost a finger in the incident, with Manila also accusing the China Coast Guard of stealing guns and damaging three boats along with navigational and communication equipment.
Beijing said that its coast guard behaved in a “professional and restrained” way and blamed Manila for the clash.
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