June 20 (UPI) — China said its coast guard on Friday expelled a Philippine government ship from waters near a disputed shoal as maritime tensions between the two feuding neighbors intensify.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said in a statement that they “took necessary measures to expel the vessel, including verbal warnings, monitoring and intercepting maneuvers and water cannon deterrence.”
It accused the vessel of having “forcibly intruded into the territorial waters of China’s Huangyan Island … despite multiple warnings and dissuasions from the Chinese side.”
The Philippine ship was identified as government vessel No. 3306.
“The spokesperson emphasized that the actions of the Philippine side seriously infringe upon China’s sovereignty and violate both international and relevant Chinese laws,” the statement said. “He added that repeated provocations and harassment by the Philippines cannot change the fact that Huangyan Island belongs to China.
Huangyan Island is known internationally as the Scarborough Shoal and in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc.
The disputed maritime territory is a triangular chain of reefs and rocks that falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but China lays claim to it and much of the South China Sea through its Nine-Dash-Line maps, which have been rejected by several nations, including the United States. The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration also disregarded the maps in a 2016 decision.
The Philippines has yet to comment on the incident, but it comes a day after its coast guard said it responded to the swarming of the Sabina Shoal by a Chinese maritime militia numbering more than 50 vessels.
Two Philippine Coast Guard vessels and a fighter jet were deployed to address the militia, which was within the Philippines’ EEZ, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement.
Clashes between the Philippines and China in disputed waters are not uncommon, with the United States frequently voicing support for its ally Manila in the confrontations.
On Monday, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative think tank issued a report stating the Scarborough Shoal has emerged as a new focal point in tensions between Manila and Beijing.
It warned that increasing aerial and maritime interactions between the countries near the shoal threaten to trigger U.S. treaty obligations and “risk spiraling into a wider conflict.”
“At Scarborough, China is reacting to all navigation by Philippine government vessels within a much larger geographic area,” the report states.
“Without a clear point of compromise, it appears that any Philippine maritime asset operating between Scarborough Shoal and the eastern edge of the Nine-Dash-Line is likely to attract a Chinese escort — and a heightened risk of accident — for the foreseeable future.”
