The Philippine military accused China of taking “excessive and offensive actions” against a supply ship on its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea Sunday.
According to the Philippine complaint, Chinese coast guard ships made “dangerous maneuvers” to block the supply vessel and bombarded it with water cannons.
The Second Thomas Shoal is referred to as Ayungin Shoal by the Philippines. In 1999, the Philippines established a small military outpost on the shoal by ramming it with a decommissioned U.S. Navy ship called the Sierra Madre.
The rusting hulk of the ship has been perched on the shoal ever since, hosting a small force of Filipino marines. The U.S. Naval Institute paid tribute to the ship’s colorful history and her strange fate as an unlovely but functional Filipino island outpost in a history amusingly titled “The Measure of the Sierra Madre” — a play on the title of the classic Humphrey Bogart film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
In this March 30, 2014, file photo, the dilapidated Sierra Madre is in the shallow waters of the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
The Chinese, who illegally claim almost every land feature in the South China Sea despite international tribunal rulings against them, have attempted to bully the Philippines into scuttling the Sierra Madre and abandoning the shoal for years. Chinese forces constantly harass the hardy band of Filipinos stationed on the shoal, and they have interfered with supply runs on several occasions. In February, a Chinese ship used a laser to attack a Philippine patrol boat that was supporting a Second Thomas Shoal supply mission, temporarily blinding some crew members.
In April, a Chinese coast guard ship nearly collided with a Philippine patrol vessel during a dangerous and intimidating maneuver near the Second Thomas Shoal. The incident was witnessed by numerous reporters who were aboard another Philippine ship nearby.
This photo taken on April 23, 2023, shows Philippine coast guard personnel aboard their rigid inflatable boat speeding past a Chinese coast guard ship after conducting a survey at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. (TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images)
On Saturday, a Chinese coast guard ship blocked a chartered Philippine boat bringing supplies to the Sierra Madre and attacked it with water cannon “in wanton disregard of the safety of the people on board and in violation of international law,” according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The Chinese ship’s dangerous actions prevented a second boat in the Philippine mission from delivering supplies to the shoal.
“We call on the China Coast Guard and the Central Military Commission to act with prudence and be responsible in their actions to prevent miscalculations and accidents that will endanger peoples’ [sic] lives,” the Philippines told China.
The Chinese coast guard insisted it acted “in accordance with the law,” and its actions were “professional and restrained, beyond reproach.”
“In the event of repeated warnings being ineffective, in order to avoid collisions caused by direct blocking, water cannons were used as a warning,” the Chinese coast guard said.
The Chinese said the Philippine ships “disregarded China’s repeated dissuasion and warnings and attempted to transfer construction materials used for maintaining and repairing the ship, which has been grounded on the shoal illegally.”
“The Chinese side urges the Philippines to tow away the grounded warship from the Renai Reef and restore the Renai Reef to its original state,” the statement concluded, using China’s name for the Second Thomas Shoal.
Undaunted by this response, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned the Chinese ambassador on Monday and presented him with “pictures and video” of the incident.
“We continue to assert our sovereignty. We continue to assert our territorial rights in the face of all of these challenges,” Marcos said.
“For the record, we will never abandon Ayungin Shoal. We are committed to Ayungin Shoal,” added Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for Marco’s National Security Council.
In this March 29, 2014, file photo, Philippine Marines deployed on the 57 Sierra Madre practice the “relieving the watch” ceremony near Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
The U.S. State Department condemned China’s actions on Sunday and promised to stand by the Philippines.
“Firing water cannons and employing unsafe blocking maneuvers, PRC [People’s Republic of China] ships interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and jeopardized the safety of the Philippine vessels and crew,” the State Department said.
“By impeding necessary provisions from reaching the Filipino service members stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, the PRC has also undertaken unwarranted interference in lawful Philippine maritime operations,” the statement noted.
The State Department noted that China has no legal claim to the Second Thomas Shoal, which is located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, and pointed out that America’s 1951 mutual defense treaty with the Philippines would require U.S. forces to repel any armed attack on Filipino ships.
Australia and Japan also denounced China’s actions, calling them “dangerous, “destabilizing,” and “totally unacceptable.”