Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Relations between the Philippines and China are heating up again. This time Manila summoned Beijing’s ambassador on Monday (23/10/2023) over two collisions between Philippine and Chinese ships in the South China Sea (SCS).
A foreign ministry official said the two countries blamed each other for Sunday’s incident (22/10/2023) near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands. Both parties have also released videos to support their allegations.
Both collisions occurred during routine supply missions to Philippine troops stationed on naval vessels in the shallow waters to assert Manila’s territorial claims.
“We took full advantage of the diplomatic processes… available to us. That included summoning the Chinese ambassador (Huang Xilian), which we did this morning,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza told reporters, as quoted AFP.
Daza said the Ambassador was unable to attend and was represented by his deputy head of mission at the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Xilian was last summoned to the foreign ministry in August after China’s Coast Guard used a water cannon against a Philippine vessel near Second Thomas Shoal.
“The Ayungin Shoal is part of our exclusive economic zone and continental shelf and we have sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the area,” Daza said.
“China, as a great power, bears greater responsibility in contributing to peace and stability in the region,” he said.
The Philippines accused the Chinese Coast Guard ship of “reckless maneuvers” that led to a collision with a wooden ship contracted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to deliver supplies to troops at BRP Sierra Madre.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the “minor collision” occurred after the supply vessel ignored “multiple warnings and deliberately bypassed law enforcement in an unprofessional and dangerous manner”.
In another incident, a Philippine coast guard ship escorting a routine supply mission was “rammed” by what the Philippine task force described as a “Chinese Maritime Militia vessel”.
But China accused the Philippine vessel of “deliberately” causing trouble by capsizing a Chinese fishing vessel in a “planned” manner.
For information, China claims almost the entire SCS region, which is a trade route worth trillions of dollars every year. This Bamboo Curtain country ignores international decisions which state that their statements have no legal basis.
Second Thomas Shoal is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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Originally posted 2023-10-23 12:47:13.