Chinese shoo away PCG plane with journalists in South China Sea

MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine Coast Guard aircraft carrying journalists was ordered to “leave immediately” by a Chinese coast guard ship as the plane flew over the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea on Thursday.

The order came from a radio operator on a Chinese coast guard vessel 3,500 feet below – one of dozens of ships seen prowling the waters.

Several media outlets were given the rare opportunity on Thursday to fly over some of the dozens of tiny islands and reefs where the Philippines, China and several other nations have competing claims.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys, ignoring an international ruling in 2016 that its claims have no legal basis.

In the past decade, it has ripped up thousands of hectares of reef within Philippine waters to create militarized islands with runways, ports and radar systems.

To assert its claims, hundreds of Chinese coast guard and other vessels patrol the waters, swarming reefs, harassing and attacking fishing and other boats.

They also try to expel non-Chinese planes from the airspace overhead.

“You have entered (the water around) a Chinese reef and constituted a security threat. To avoid misunderstanding, leave immediately,” the Chinese radio operator said, in one of seven messages issued in Chinese and English as the coast guard plane flew over a Philippine-occupied island and shoal.

The Philippine pilot responded that they were flying within his country’s territory.

During the four-hour flight in the Cessna Caravan, PCG personnel identified nearly 20 Chinese vessels, including what they described as “maritime militia” boats, in waters around some of the nine islands and reefs occupied by the Philippines.

Seventeen boats reported by the PCG to be Chinese maritime militia were also spotted near Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, which is claimed by the Philippines.

Fifteen Chinese boats were seen in the vicinity of Pag-Asa (Thitu), the largest Philippine-occupied island, which lies about 430 kilometers from Palawan and more than 900 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass of Hainan island.

The PCG said that was down from 42 the previous week.

A Chinese navy ship was 15 kilometers from the island, while a coast guard vessel was half that distance away, according to estimates provided by the PCG.

At Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, where Philippine marines are stationed on the derelict BRP Sierra Madre grounded to assert Manila’s territorial claim in the waters, a Chinese coast guard vessel was about 11 kilometers away, Philippine authorities said.

Last month, a Chinese coast guard boat was nearly 20 kilometers from the shoal when it allegedly used a military-grade laser light against a PCG boat.

That was the latest major maritime incident between the Philippines and China.

It sparked a fresh diplomatic row and prompted President Marcos to take the unusual step of confronting the Chinese ambassador to Manila.

Marcos has insisted he will not let China trample on the Philippines’ maritime rights – in contrast to his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who was reluctant to criticize Beijing.

The Philippines’ new strategy was to call out China’s “bullying behavior and aggressive actions,” Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told a forum on Wednesday. Manila refers to waters immediately to its west as the West Philippine Sea.

The PCG is regularly publishing information, including photos and videos, about Chinese vessels in the waters around Philippine-occupied features.

This helps inform the public and enables other countries to be aware of and criticize China over its activities, Tarriela said. And it forces Beijing “to come out in the open to explain or to completely lie.”

The PCG said it would submit a complete report of its Thursday flight mission to the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), of which the PCG is a member.

‘US provocation’

Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Manila has accused the US of provoking a new cold war in the Indo-Pacific region by seeking access to four more Philippine military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA.

“We hope that the Philippine people can tell the selfish interests and zero-sum mentality of the United States to provoke a new cold war in this region,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

The statement was in response to pronouncements from visiting US State Department Undersecretary Victoria Nuland allegedly discrediting China-Philippines economic and trade cooperation.

“Some Americans claim that the four additional military sites in the Philippines to which US forces would have access under the EDCA would bring ‘economic opportunities, jobs’ to their host communities, and discredit China-Philippines economic cooperation at the same time,” it said.

“Such remarks are in total ignorance of the Philippine people’s pursuit of peace, cooperation and development as well as China-Philippines helping each other in developing economy, improving people’s livelihood and increasing employment,” it pointed out.

“Creating economic opportunities and jobs through military cooperation is tantamount to quenching thirst with poison and gouging flesh to heal wounds,” the statement added.

“History will judge who is the reliable partner of the Philippines for mutual assistance and common development, and who is a passer-by that instigates and fans discordance in this region,” it said.

The Chinese embassy said China and the Philippines are natural partners, citing their geographical proximity, close kinship and complementary advantages. It said that in recent years, China and the Philippines have deepened the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the “Build, Build, Build” and “Build Better More” programs of the Philippines.

It noted that around 40 government-to-government cooperation projects have been completed or are in progress, including the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge, Davao-Samal Bridge and Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.

“China remains the Philippines’ largest trading partner, largest source of imports, largest export destination and third largest source of foreign investment under agreements, which has effectively promoted the post-pandemic economic recovery and prosperity of the two countries,” the Chinese embassy stressed. – Michael Punongbayan, AFP