Philippines and China blame each other over new South China Sea conflict

China and the Philippines gave conflicting accounts of a maritime standoff over a disputed sand bar in the South China Sea on Wednesday, the latest in a long-running dispute between the two neighbors.

According to Philippine officials, Chinese coast guard vessels fired high-pressure water cannons. They scraped a Manila Fisheries Bureau vessel that was delivering supplies to Filipino fishermen in the area, an action that drew condemnation from the United States.

The incident follows a diplomatic spat after China demarcated “territorial waters” around its main fishing area of ​​Scarborough Sands in November. This week, it submitted maritime charts to the United Nations outlining its claims, which Manila called “baseless and illegal.”

“It is an exaggeration,” Jay Tarella, a spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard, said at a news conference. He shared a video at the press conference showing a larger Chinese Coast Guard vessel approaching the ship, which is itself Chinese until a collision occurred. The ship sprayed streams of water at the same Manila ship.

U.S. Ambassador Mary Kay Carlson said on the Free and Open Pacific social media platform that China’s actions disrupted Philippine naval operations and endangered lives.

However, the Chinese Coast Guard said four Philippine ships tried to enter territorial waters around Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing claims as Huangyan Island.

Coast Guard spokesman Leo Dijon said in a statement that the Philippine ships “came dangerously close” to the Coast Guard’s “routine law enforcement patrol boats,” prompting them to “exercise control” over their counterparts.

Liu added in a separate statement that one of the Philippine ships “ignored” repeated warnings and took actions that “seriously threatened” the safety of the Chinese coast guard ship.

“We warn the Philippines that it must immediately stop its aggression, provocation and propaganda, or it will bear all consequences,” he added.

Maritime clashes between Manila and Beijing last year over Beijing’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea angered neighboring countries that dispute some of the borders, saying they are drawn into their exclusive economic zones.

Tarrera said the Chinese coast guard “provoked and increased tensions.” He also expressed concern about the actions of a Chinese naval vessel on Wednesday, which he said first followed a PCG vessel into the sandbar.

On Monday, China submitted maritime maps to the United Nations showing its territorial claims to the waters around Scarborough Shoal.

It said in a statement that the recording was a “legitimate activity to defend (China’s) territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Alexander Lopez, spokesman for the Philippine National Maritime Commission, stressed that “the area belongs to us” and that China’s claims are baseless and illegal.

At the same press conference, Lopez called on China to exercise restraint.

“The aggressive stance of the Chinese vessel highlights the ongoing aggression, coercion and intimidation in Philippine waters,” Lopez said.

The Philippines and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have spent years negotiating a code of conduct with Beijing over the strategic waterway, with some countries in the group insisting that it should be based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China has said it supports the code of conduct but does not recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling that said China’s claims to most of the South China Sea have no basis in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China has never asserted sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal. Still, the court ruled that China’s blockade of the island violated international law, under which the area is a traditional fishing area used by fishermen from many countries.