The Philippine President affirmed that the mission of the country’s navy and coast guard is to reduce tensions in the East Sea.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Source: AP)
On May 6, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told the press: “We will not act like the Chinese coast guard and Chinese ships.”
Mr. Marcos said the mission of the Philippine navy and coast guard is to minimize tensions and the Philippines has no plans to install water cannons on ships.
President Marcos’ statement was made after the tense incident between the Philippines and China in the East Sea at the end of April.
The Philippines summoned a Chinese diplomat to protest against “harassment, ramming, siege, tailing and blocking, dangerous actions, use of water cannons and other aggressive actions by ships.” Chinese Coast Guard and Maritime Militia”.
According to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, China’s actions, especially the use of water cannons, caused damage to Philippine ships. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a coast guard ship and another Philippine government ship were damaged in an incident on April 30 near Scarborough Shoal in the East Sea.
The Philippines said the water pressure in this waterspout incident was much stronger than any previous incident, causing damage to metal parts and equipment on the Philippine ship.
On May 2, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs summoned representatives of Chinese diplomatic missions in Manila to protest the incident, describing it as a “harassment and dangerous act”. This is the Philippines’ 20th protest with China this year.
The Chinese Coast Guard later announced that it had “chased away” a coast guard ship and another Philippine ship in waters near Scarborough Shoal, but did not specify the details of the encounter.
Scarborough is a shoal located 230km from the Philippine island of Luzon and about 1,000km from the Southeast coast of China. China took control of Scarborough Shoal after a tense maritime confrontation with the Philippines in 2012.
Since then, China has regularly prevented Filipino fishermen from approaching the abundant fishing grounds to fish, even using water cannons to chase them away.
Scarborough Shoal is part of a lawsuit initiated by the Philippines at the international permanent arbitration court in The Hague (Netherlands) against China’s illegal “cow tongue line” claim in the East Sea. In its July 2016 ruling, the arbitration court officially rejected this claim, but Beijing still denies and does not comply with any of the court’s conclusions.
