MANILA: The coast guards of China and the Philippines gave conflicting versions on Wednesday (Dec 4) of a maritime confrontation around a contested shoal in the South China Sea, the latest row in a longstanding dispute between the neighbours.
The incident follows a diplomatic spat in November after China drew baseline “territorial waters” around the prime fishing patch of the Scarborough Shoal, and submitted nautical charts this week to the United Nations setting out its claim.
China’s Coast Guard said four Philippine ships had attempted to enter its territorial waters around the Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing claims as Huangyan Island.
Philippine ships had “dangerously approached” the coast guard’s “normal law enforcement patrol vessels”, prompting them to “exercise control” over their counterparts, Liu Dejun, a coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement.
In a further statement, Liu added that one of the Philippine ships “ignored” repeated warnings, with actions that “seriously threatened” the safety of a Chinese coast guard vessel.
“We warn the Philippines to immediately stop infringement, provocation and propaganda, otherwise it will be responsible for all consequences.”
But the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Chinese navy and coastguard vessels had taken “aggressive actions” against a routine patrol by it and the fisheries bureau.
A Chinese coast guard vessel fired a water cannon and sideswiped a PCG vessel, while Philippine vessels faced “blocking, shadowing, and dangerous manoeuvres” from Chinese navy and coastguard ships, a PCG spokesperson said.
