Palace rejects China claim of provocation, says Philippines only defending rights

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is not out to instigate conflict in the South China Sea but will continue to defend its sovereign rights when challenged, Malacañang said, days after Chinese forces harassed the Philippine Coast Guard in the waters near and the air above Scarborough Shoal.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has made it clear that while the government will continue to assert its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, it will do so without provoking others.

“Muli, uulitin ko lamang ang sinabi ng Pangulo: tayo ay hindi aatras sa laban, pero hindi po tayo nagpo-provoke,” Castro said at a press conference on Thursday, August 14. “We are not raging any war against any country. Tayo ay dumidipensa lamang para sa ating karapatan.” 

(Again, I will just repeat what the President said: we will not back down from a fight, but we are not provoking... We are not raging any war against any country. We are only defending our rights.)

The Palace press officer shrugged off an editorial by Chinese state-run Global Times yesterday where it accused Manila of provoking Chinese vessels in the tense waterways, warning it will carry out “targeted countermeasures” if it persisted. 

“That is their narrative,” Castro said in mixed English and Filipino. “There is an arbitral ruling where it is clearly stated what our rights are in the West Philippine Sea, and that is documented.”  

A Chinese fighter jet "intercepted" a PCG patrol plane while it was conducting a maritime domain awareness flight over Scarborough Shoal yesterday — the first time such assets were used against the PCG this year, said Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela.

The mid-air harassment followed a Monday collision where two Chinese vessels ploughed into each other while one of them was attempting a "risky maneuver" while chasing PCG vessel BRP Suluan near Scarborough Shoal. 

Video footage of the incident, shared by the PCG, shows a CCG vessel ramming into a larger Chinese warship with a loud crash. 

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, who also chairs the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, said the incidents — Monday’s high-speed chase that ended in a collision between two Chinese ships and Wednesday’s aerial harassment — show Beijing “is intensifying their actions” and “using force to intimidate us.” 

“We are on the right side. We have legal and historical basis, so whatever they do, we will not change our position,” Año said in a media interview. “But we will [also] not be the ones to start trouble.”

The PCG says the incident on Monday took place in an attempt to interfere with the Philippines' supply mission for Filipino fishers in the area. 

Scarborough Shoal is within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, but China effectively seized control of the feature after a tense stand-off with Philippine vessels in 2012. 

It sits just 240 kilometers from the Philippines' main island of Luzon — yet nearly 900 kilometers from China's nearest major landmass, Hainan.

No military deployment planned. Despite the escalating tensions, Año said there are no plans to deploy Armed Forces of the Philippines assets to the area, maintaining that operations remain a law enforcement function.

"As much as possible, sabi nga natin ayaw nating pagsimulan ng escalation. We treat the area as a law enforcement function ng Philippine Coast Guard at tsaka ng BFAR," he said.

(As much as possible, as we said, we don't want to start an escalation. We treat the area as a law enforcement function of the Philippine Coast Guard and also of BFAR.)

China's increasing incursions into the Philippines' EEZ are part of its broader actions in the South China Sea, where it claims historic rights to almost all waters through its "nine-dash line." An international tribunal invalidated this claim in 2016.

In recent years, Chinese vessels have maintained a persistent presence around features inside the Philippines' EEZ, from the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal, to Ayungin Shoal where Filipino troops maintain a World War II-era ship as an outpost.