Manila and Washington’s National Security Advisers raised grave concerns over escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims in the region.
Philippine NSA Eduardo Año and US NSA Jake Sullivan exchanged information on the current maritime security situation in the region in a phone conversation Tuesday.
Both security officials described Beijing’s recent acts as illegal, aggressive, and dangerous.
Over the past days, China’s People’s Liberation Army – Air Force (PLAAF) dropped flares against a Philippine Air Force aircraft conducting a routine maritime security operation over Bajo de Masinloc.
Chinese Coast Guard vessels also rammed two Philippine Coast Guard ships while en route to Patag Island and Lawak Island in the West Philippine Sea.
China, for its part, warned the United States it has “no right to intervene” in its maritime disputes with the Philippines.
Washington earlier condemned the “dangerous actions” against “lawful Philippine maritime operations” after the latest coast guard clash.
“These actions are the latest examples of (China) using dangerous and escalatory measures to enforce its expansive and unlawful South China Sea maritime claims,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Asked about Patel’s remarks, his Chinese counterpart Mao Ning defended Beijing’s “legal measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
“The US is not a party in the South China Sea and has no right to intervene in maritime disputes between China and the Philippines,” Mao told a regular briefing.
“The US should stop provoking confrontation in the South China Sea, not disrupt regional stability and not escalate tensions,” Mao said.
China and the Philippines have had repeated confrontations in the waters over the past year, including around the BRP Sierra Madre grounded in 1999 by Manila on Ayungin Shoal, which hosts a garrison.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Analysts have said Beijing’s aim is to push eastwards from Ayungin Shoal toward the neighboring Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the Spratly Islands, encroaching on Manila’s exclusive economic zone and normalizing Chinese control of the area.
The confrontations have echoes of 2012 when Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal, another strategic feature in the South China Sea closest to the Philippines.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, for his part, renewed his call for the government to convene the National Security Council and to demand compensation from China for the damages sustained by the two PCG patrol vessels.
“What happened in Escoda Shoal is unacceptable…We can get the opinion of the Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, and DFA. This [incident involves] one of the highest forms of aggravated maritime intentional allision and collision,” Tolentino said.
“The OSG and DOJ should create a specialized team of maritime lawyers to handle these cases. The ramming incident in Escoda won’t be the last. We cannot assign this task to fiscals, because these cases involve specialized aspects of international law and maritime law,” he added. With AFP
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