June 3, 2024
Manila – The Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) was accused of seizing and dumping food and other supplies for Filipino troops stationed at a remote outpost on Ayungin (II Thomas) Shoal, and preventing medical evacuation of sick soldiers.
Both incidents occurred on May 19, when the Philippine Navy launched an airstrike to bring supplies to the PRP Sierra Madre, a derelict warship that was grounded in 1999 to defend its claims over Manila Shoal, according to a ranking military official, who was not heard from. He is not authorized to speak to the media and must remain anonymous.
In the third incident, on May 24, the CCG used water cannons to chase away a Filipino fishing boat near the shoal, the official said.
On the same day, May 19, the investigative source made the allegations hours after Chinese state media said personnel in Sierra Madre „pointed guns” at the CCG.
In a social media post on Sunday, China Central Television said at least two men on deck had guns pointed at them in the direction of the CCG.
The 29-second video shows a masked man momentarily holding up a blurry black object that looks like a gun.
The Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and National Security Council and the country’s embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An investigative source said the CCG sent four rubber boats during a paradrop operation to Philippine Navy aircraft Sierra Madre on May 19.
The Chinese grabbed some food items and scattered them in the water to ensure that they could not be consumed. But some of them took things for themselves, the source said.
On the same day, two CCG ships and four rubber boats also harassed a medical evacuation operation to provide medical aid to the sick soldiers, the source said.
A CCG vessel fired its water cannon directly at the outboard motor towards one of the Philippine rubber boats.
The Philippine boat’s engine guard was also damaged when a Chinese rubber boat collided with its stern. A non-military source with knowledge of the operations confirmed the Chinese harassment, but his version differed slightly from the first source, saying the Chinese boats tried to prevent „personnel transfers” between Philippine Navy boats and the small Philippine Coast Guard.
Ayungin is a low-tide island located 194 km from the province of Palawan, in the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
Sierra Madre hosts a small contingent of Philippine troops that require regular rotation and resupply operations. The last publicly known resupply mission was in March, when a Philippine supply ship was damaged and injured by water cannon fired by the Chinese.
In 2016, an arbitration panel in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that there was no legal basis for China’s sweeping claims to much of the South China Sea.
’A particular country’
During the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top security summit in Singapore on Friday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made a thinly veiled reference to Beijing, condemning its illegal, coercive and undermining actions in the South China Sea. Southeast Asian countries’ vision for „Peace, Stability and Prosperity” at sea.
Speaking at the Singapore summit, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun said Beijing was committed to protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity, calling it the „sacred mission of the Chinese military”.
“The South China Sea has seen overall stability. However, a certain country, emboldened by external forces, broke bilateral agreements and its own promises, created provocations and created false scenarios to mislead the public,” Tong said, without naming the Philippines.
„We are deeply concerned that behavior such as pretending to uphold fairness and justice and threatening others under the guise of international law will seriously damage the rule of international law,” Dong said.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said during his bilateral meeting with New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Ann Collins that „the Philippines is not causing the problem there.”
Teodoro said in an earlier meeting with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin III, that the Philippines was facing „dangerous” harassment in the West Philippine Sea.
„We are all interested in ensuring that the South China Sea remains open and free,” Austin said.
„We’re more than friends and partners, we’re family. What hurts you hurts us,” Austin told Teodoro.