Philippines on South China Sea clash: Manila’s mutual defense agreement with the United States was not activated by last week’s South China Sea altercation, during which Chinese coast guard members flashed guns and crashed Philippine naval vessels, a presidential spokesperson said on Friday.
In the confrontation on Monday, which resulted in the loss of a Filipino sailor’s thumb, footage from Manila showed Chinese coast guard sailors armed with knives, an axe, and other weapons as they prevented a Philippine navy attempt to resupply a Filipino garrison stationed on a defunct vessel.
According to Barrons, when asked if Manila would persuade Washington to uphold the 1951 treaty, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin of President Ferdinand Marcos responded to reporters, “We are not yet ready to consider this an armed attack.”
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The fight was the most current in a series of conflicts that got worse as Beijing tried harder to push its claims in the disputed area.
In the event of an “armed attack” against any military, coast guard, vessel, aircraft, or other establishment anywhere in the Pacific theatre, which Washington says includes the South China Sea, the US and the Philippines have agreed to protect each other.
A statement from the State Department says that on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo about China’s new “escalatory actions.”
Blinken said that China’s acts “undermine regional peace and stability and underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defense Treaty”.
When a tiny Chinese boat collided with an inflatable boat belonging to the Philippine Navy, the Filipino sailor suffered a thumb injury.
According to the Philippine military, the Chinese coast guard also seized or destroyed Philippine weapons and inflatable boats.
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Beijing said that the Philippines was attempting “to sneak in building materials, but also tried to smuggle in military equipment” to the isolated garrison, and it held Manila responsible for the altercation. Beijing emphasized that its coast guard acted in a “professional and restrained” manner.
In 1999, the battleship Sierra Madre purposefully grounded on top of the Second Thomas Shoal to assert the territorial claims of Manila.
Beijing ignores opposing claims from many Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines, and an international decision that says its position lacks legal foundation in favour of its nearly total territorial claims over the South China Sea.
The western Philippine island of Palawan is located approximately 200 kilometres (120 miles) away from Second Thomas Shoal, whereas Hainan Island, China’s closest significant landmass, is located over 1,000 kilometres away.
China has converted several reefs into man-made, militarized islands and uses the Coast Guard and other boats to police the waterways surrounding the shoal.
The conflict on Monday has increased concerns that China would try to board the Sierra Madre and drive away the Filipino soldiers stationed there.
The presidential adviser on maritime matters, Andres Centino, a retired general from the Philippines, told reporters on Friday, “That is always a consideration, and we will be prepared for that.”
Marcos’ executive secretary, Bersamin, seemed to minimize the altercation, though.
He added that the Chinese side had not utilized anything “beyond” bladed weaponry, adding that “This was probably a misunderstanding or an accident.”
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“I think this is a matter that can easily be solved by us very soon, and if China wants to work with us we can work with China.”
He claimed that following the altercation, the government’s advisory National Maritime Council met and advised the president to order Manila to publicize the dates of its resupply operations to the Sierra Madre ahead of time in the hopes that China would behave more responsibly.
He stated that Manila would not be “giving up anything” by taking this position.
Bersamin and Centino stated that Marcos had not yet approved the proposal.
