Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos has summoned the Chinese ambassador to express serious concern over the “increasing frequency and intensity of actions” by China against Philippine vessels.
The meeting came a day after the Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a “military-grade laser light” at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member and disrupting a mission in the South China Sea.
The report of the incident prompted condemnation from the US, which said it stood by the Philippines, describing China’s conduct as “provocative and unsafe”, while the Australia’s and Japan’s embassies in Manila also expressed concern.
Philippine foreign affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said that a diplomatic protest had been filed, saying “these acts of aggression by China are disturbing and disappointing.”
The incident took place on 6 February, one month after Marcos visited Beijing for meetings that included discussions of how the two sides could avoid triggering a crisis in the disputed water way.
The Philippines, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is rich in resources and a crucial transit route for oil. However, China says it has sovereignty over it almost entirely – a claim that an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016 found to have no legal basis.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Marcos had expressed his concern “over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine coast guard and our Filipino fishermen”, including its use of a “military grade laser” against one of its vessels, the presidential communications office said.
The Philippine coast guard accused a Chinese ship of shining a green laser light twice towards one of its boats to deliberately block a mission that was bringing food and supplies to its troops at Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the disputed Spratly Islands. It also accused the Chinese vessel of making “dangerous manoeuvres by approaching about 150 yards from the vessel’s starboard quarter”.
The Chinese coastguard had also blocked Philippine ships from reaching Second Thomas Shoal during a mission in August, the coastguard in Manila said.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Manila said that Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian met Marcos on Tuesday and that they “exchanged views on how to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen dialogue and communication, and properly manage maritime difference between China and the Philippines”.
Marcos, who took office in June, has taken a firmer stance against Chinese aggressiveness on the South China Sea, say analysts, and has strengthened ties with the US, which had become strained under the previous president Rodrigo Duterte.
Earlier this month, the Philippines granted the US expanded access to its military bases in “strategic areas of the country”. Duterte also recently visited Japan to strengthen defence ties.
Richard Heydarian, an academic and commentator on regional politics, described Marcos as overseeing “nothing less than a quiet revolution” in Philippine foreign policy”. This included a “calibrated rhetoric on bullies, uncompromising stance on [the West Philippine Sea], coupled with tough alliance-building,” he said in comments on Twitter, referring to the South China Sea.
