The Chinese air force jets’ hostile actions against the Philippine military’s transport plane on Thursday (August 8, 2024) over the Scarborough Shoal was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Philippine government said Tuesday (August 13, 2024) it has filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing after Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

The Chinese air force jets’ hostile actions against the Philippine military’s NC-212i light transport plane on Thursday (August 8, 2024) over the Scarborough Shoal was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the busy seaway started to flare on 2023.

Philippine Military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. did not report any injuries or damage but condemned the Chinese actions, which he said could have had tragic consequences.

“If the flares came into contact with our aircraft, these could have been blown into the propeller or the intake or burned our plane,” Mr. Brawner told reporters. “It was very dangerous.” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said without elaborating that a diplomatic protest has been transmitted to China.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said over the weekend that the actions by the Chinese air force jets were “unjustified, illegal and reckless.” “We call on the government of the People’s Republic of China to cease all forms of provocative and hazardous acts that could undermine the safety of Filipino military and civilian personnel in the waters or in the skies, destabilise regional peace, and erode the trust and confidence of the international community in the PRC,” a Philippine government task force overseeing the South China Sea said Monday.

Despite the encounter, Philippine monitoring of its airspace would be intensified, the task force said.

The Southern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said on Saturday (August 11, 2024) that a Philippine air force aircraft “illegally” entered the airspace above the shoal, which China claims, disrupting its combat training activities.

The command sent jets and ships to identify, track and drive away the Philippine aircraft, it added.

The command warned the Philippines to “stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hyping-up.” The United States, Australia and Canada have reported similar actions by Chinese air force aircraft in the past in the South China Sea, where those nations have deployed forces to promote freedom of navigation and overflight.

China has bristled at military deployments by the U.S. and its allies in the disputed region, calling it a danger to regional security.

In 2013, China announced a new Air Defence Identification Zone over the East China Sea that covers a chain of disputed islands also claimed by Japan. Beijing said then that all aircraft entering the zone must notify Chinese authorities and they would be subject to emergency military measures if they did not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing. However, Washington and its allies said the move was invalid and refused to recognise it.

Chinese officials had warned that Beijing could establish a similar air defence zone over the South China Sea if its sovereignty over the sea passage, a key global trade and security route, was threatened.

Jay Batongbacal, a law professor and director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, said the air defence zone is not an exercise of territorial rights over the area it covers.

“What is happening is that they are flexing their capabilities to intimidate the Philippines, to give the impression to non- Chinese audiences and countries that they have control of the air in the South China Sea,” Mr. Batongbacal said.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand have overlapping territorial claims in the busy sea passage, but hostilities have particularly flared between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy forces in the Scarborough Shoal and another hotly disputed atoll, the Second Thomas Shoal, since 2023 .

Washington has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

A file photo of Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said on Wednesday that he sees Chinese actions in the South China Sea with “great alarm”, after recent confrontations described by a Filipino military commander as “the worst” in two years.

The latest incidents involving Philippine and Chinese vessels took place on Tuesday in waters around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands where the countries have contested maritime claims.

Manila said that China Coast Guard ships caused two collisions with Philippine boats and water cannoned one of them, leaving four Filipino crew members injured.

The Philippine vessels were part of a regular mission to deliver provisions to a handful of Filipino troops stationed on a grounded navy vessel at Second Thomas Shoal.

“We continue to view with great alarm this continuing dangerous manoeuvres and dangerous actions that are being done against our seamen, our coast guard,” Mr. Marcos told reporters.

“I think that we cannot view this in any way but in the most serious way,” he said.

“Once again, we will make our objections known and hope that we can continue to communicate to find a way so that such actions are no longer seen.”

Manila summoned a Chinese representative over the incidents on Tuesday.

Beijing expressed “strong protests” over the run-in with the Philippine vessels, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Tuesday.

‘Worst in two years’

Philippine Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, who was on board the supply boat water cannoned by the China Coast Guard, said the force of the water “shattered the windshield” and injured four personnel.

“In the last two years, I think this is the worst because it resulted in personal injuries,” Carlos, chief of the Armed Forces Western Command, told reporters.

The incident happened a day after Philippine foreign minister Enrique Manalo called on China to “stop harassing us” as he defended Manila’s strategy of publicising Chinese manoeuvres in the South China Sea.

AFP was among media outlets on board one of the Philippine Coast Guard ships that escorted the supply mission.

Tuesday’s collisions and water cannoning came after similar incidents in December.

“It is China that is deliberately stirring up trouble and maliciously inciting hype and not the Philippines,” said Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the Philippines’ National Security Council.

“The South China Sea is wide enough for both our nations to peacefully co-exist as we have done for centuries.”

China claims almost the entire waterway, brushing aside competing claims from a host of Southeast Asian nations and an international ruling that has declared its stance baseless.