China says it is committed to "resolute measures" after it clashed with a Philippine resupply mission for the second time this month in the South China Sea's Spratly Islands archipelago.
China's diplomatic mission in Manila said Monday it had lodged an official protest with its host government over the "illegal trespassing" at Second Thomas Shoal, a reef lying within the Philippines' internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and over 600 miles from Chinese shores.
Early Saturday morning, Chinese coast guard and paramilitary ships homed in on a routine supply boat and its two Philippine Coast Guard escorts as they carried supplies and fresh troops to a grounded warship-turned-military outpost at the disputed reef.
As during the previous supply run on March 5, footage shows Chinese forces appearing to unsafely steer into the paths of their Philippine counterparts. The China Coast Guard also unleashed intense water cannon barrages on the supply boat Unaizah May 4, which Manila said crippled it and resulted in several injuries.
The embassy said that just 18 days after the previous flare up, the Philippine government had ignored "China's strong opposition (to the mission) communicated clearly to the Philippine side until the eleventh hour."
It accused the Philippines of secretly ferrying construction supplies meant to reinforce the rusting Second Thomas Shoal warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, in order to extend the Southeast Asian country's presence there.
"China remains committed to resolute measures in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," the embassy went on.
The embassy rejected an international tribunal's 2016 ruling, oft cited by Manila, that dismissed China's sweeping claims within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
"The so-called 2016 arbitration award is illegal, null and void. China does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action based on the award," it said.
Newsweek reached out to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., via written requests for comment.
"China is willing to see how far it can go in terms of escalating its belligerent and unlawful activities in the Philippine exclusive economic zone," Don McLain Gill, Manila-based geopolitical analyst and lecturer at De La Salle University's Department of International Studies, told Newsweek.
"The escalation also coincides with Manila showing a more robust political will to pursue its legitimate interests" within its EEZ, where international law grants it the sole right to resources, he added.
Gill said China is also seeking to undermine the credibility of the U.S.' commitments to its allies.
"This will indeed be a test for Manila's and its partners' political will to hold China accountable for its actions," he said.
Also on Monday, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned the Chinese embassy's charge d'affaires to convey its "strong protest against the aggressive actions undertaken by the China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia" against the resupply mission on Saturday.
The department said the Philippines has made "sincere efforts" to walk back tensions in the South China Sea but added: "even as the Philippines continues to engage China in dialogue and diplomacy at the bilateral and multilateral levels, China's aggressive actions contradict and put to waste ASEAN-China efforts to promote practical activities to foster peace and cooperation in the region."
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About the writer
Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
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