Philippines says Chinese coast guard seized guns and punctured rubber boats on resupply mission

MANILA – China’s coast guard “looted” firearms and destroyed Philippine rubber boats during a South China Sea clash this week, prompting Manila to demand compensation from Beijing, military officials said on June 19.

“They have no right or legal authority to hijack our operations and destroy Philippine vessels operating within our exclusive economic zone,” the Philippine military chief, General Romeo Brawner Jr, said in a news briefing.

China Coast Guard personnel “illegally” boarded two Philippine rubber boats during Manila’s resupply mission on June 17 to its military outpost at Second Thomas Shoal, said Rear-Admiral Alfonso Torres Jr, head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command.

They then seized and disassembled the firearms found on the boats, he said.

“The firearms were looted,” Rear-Adm Torres said, adding the Chinese crew also “deliberately punctured” the rubber boats using knives and other pointed materials during the encounter.

The details of

the encounter on June 17

, one of the most serious incidents yet between the two countries in the disputed, resource-rich waterway, were revealed as the Philippines and other countries denounced China’s latest actions.

China defended its actions, saying on June 19 that “no direct measures” were taken against Filipino personnel.

“Law enforcement measures taken by the China Coast Guard at the site were professional and restrained,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said during a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Second Thomas Shoal hosts a tiny Philippine garrison stationed on a deliberately beached old warship and has been the focus of a series of recent confrontations.

Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several South-east Asian nations, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.

Second Thomas Shoal lies about 200km from the western Philippine island province of Palawan and more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major land mass, Hainan island.

Gen Brawner said it was the first time that the Chinese coast guard “brought with them bolos, spears and knives”, prompting Filipino soldiers to fight back “with their bare hands”.

The Philippine military said the seized guns were intended for Filipino troops manning the BRP Sierra Madre transport ship on the shoal. The crew of the boarded boats were under orders not to display their weapons, it said.

“So our action now is we are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment, and we are also demanding them to pay for the damages they have caused. This is piracy because they boarded our boats illegally, and they got our equipment,” Gen Brawner said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration has asserted the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea, defying Beijing’s expansive claims over the waterway.

Gen Brawner visited the Western Command headquarters in Palawan to check on personnel who were injured during the mission,

including one who lost a finger

.

“He said that he is willing to go back to serve again in the West Philippine Sea,” he said, recalling a conversation with the serviceman and using Manila’s term for the waters within its exclusive economic zone.

“They didn’t lose their fighting spirit, and that’s what’s important.” BLOOMBERG, AFP