Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannons at two Philippine patrol vessels April 30 near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. There were no reports of injuries to the crew but both vessels suffered damages. Although the shoal falls inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a spokesperson for the Chinese Coast Guard insisted the Philippines has violated China’s sovereignty and called its action a necessary measure.
The spokesperson also added that China will continue to defend its right in the Chinese waters. The Chinese Coast Guard has also re-installed a floating barrier across the entrance to the shoal to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering the shoal’s vast fishing lagoon. The Philippines’ government has dismantled the floating barrier in September 2023.
Another spokesperson, at China’s embassy in Manila, said Scarborough Shoal (known as Huangyan Dao in China) has always been China’s territory and wanted the Philippines to stop incursions and provocations at the Scarborough Shoal, and not to challenge China’s resolve to defend sovereignty.
China insists on sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, which is rich in fishing stocks, oil and gas, and is also a key global trade route. The South China Sea holds immense importance for China due to its economic, strategic, and geopolitical significance. As a global superpower which is determined to displace the U.S. and to upend the current international rules-based order, China’s efforts to establish control over the South China Sea reflect its aspirations to secure access to vital resources, protect maritime interests, and assert influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
In 2016, China rejected an international arbitration ruling which stated it has no legal basis for the expansive claims. Apart from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims. This incident was latest in a series of confrontations which have intensified since last year.
According to an editorial in state media Global Times on May 2, the Scarborough Shoal is not within Philippine territory, and that the “provocative actions of the Philippine government in the waters near the island are premeditated and organized acts of infringement on China’s sovereignty. The Philippines’ attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is true “infringement and provocation.”
The Global Times also added that “regardless of how the Philippines smears China, the fact that China is not the planner of risks in the South China Sea nor the instigator of disputes, but rather the maintainer of regional security and controller of crisis events, will not change.”
Regarding the April 30 incident, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said a coast guard ship and an accompanying fisheries vessel were patrolling the waters off Scarborough Shoal when four Chinese coast guard ships, backed by six suspected militia ships, executed dangerous blocking maneuvers and one of the Chinese coast guard ship used a water cannon against the fisheries vessel, the BRP Bankaw, and two other Chinese coast guard ships hit the Philippine coast guard ship, the BRP Bagacay, simultaneously from both sides, damaging part of its deck railing and a canopy.
On May 2, the Filipino government summoned a senior Chinese envoy to protest, the 20th lodged by Manila this year, and 153rd since President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in mid-2022. On May 4, Tarriela said that Philippine vessels will not use water cannons in a tit-for-tat move amid the harassment by Chinese vessels. He stated that Philippine vessels will not be provoked into retaliation.
Tarriela added: “We have to maintain professionalism in dealing with this kind of bullying of the Chinese Coast Guard.”
Photo credit: iStock/ Anton Skripachev
