China, Philippines trade accusations over South China Sea confrontation

Manila and Beijing traded accusations about a maritime confrontation Wednesday around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, a day after China submitted a chart of the South China Sea feature’s shore to the U.N. to bolster its claim over it.

The China Coast Guard said that four Philippine ships had tried to enter China’s territorial waters around the shoal and had “dangerously approached” its “normal law enforcement patrol vessels.” 

That prompted an “exercised control” by the Chinese side over their counterparts, Liu Dejun, a Chinese spokesperson, said in a statement.

But the Philippines said that the Chinese coast guard fired water cannon and “sideswiped” one of its government ships during a maritime patrol near the shore.

The Chinese ship “fired a water cannon ... aiming directly at the vessel’s navigational antennas,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said.

The Chinese vessel then “intentionally sideswiped” the ship before launching a second water cannon attack, Tarriela added in a statement.

Video released by the Philippines appeared to show a Chinese coast guard ship hitting the right side of the BRP Datu Pagbuaya, a fisheries department vessel, with the Filipino crew shouting “Collision! Collision!”

Scarborough Shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc and in China as Huangyan Dao, is a triangular chain of reefs about 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from Luzon, the main Philippine island. 

Claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan, the shoal has been under Beijing’s de-facto control since 2012.

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The latest confrontation between vessels from China and the Philippines occurred a day after China “deposited” a statement about “baselines of the territorial sea” adjacent to the Scarborough Shoal to the U.N., calling it “legitimate measures” to defend its territorial sovereignty.

On Monday, the Chinese embassy to the United Nations said China was “fulfilling its obligations” under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Under the sea law, a baseline is a line that runs along the coast of a country or an island, from which the extent of the territorial sea and other maritime zones such as the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and extended continental shelf are measured.

In 2016, a U.N. arbitration tribunal rejected all of China’s claims to reefs in the South China Sea, including Scarborough Shoal. The tribunal also determined that the shoal was a rock rather than an island.

As a result, while the shoal may qualify for a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, it cannot establish an EEZ. Instead, it is recognized as part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Despite the international ruling that China’s claim over the shore had no legal basis, Beijing has deployed patrol boats, which, the Philippines says, harass its vessels and prevent its fishermen from accessing a lagoon in Scarborough Shoal.

Philippine analysts weigh in

Julio Amador III, a Philippines-based geopolitical analyst who has closely followed the South China Sea dispute, said China’s latest actions in Scarborough Shoal appeared to be in response to Manila’s passage of its Maritime Zones Law.

“The PRC wants to show that only its maritime law enforcement agencies can operate in the area,” Amador told BenarNews.

Last month, Manila enacted two laws, the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act. They aim to declare the country’s maritime zones in accordance with standards set by UNCLOS and seek to confine foreign vessels and aircraft to designated archipelagic sea lanes.

Beijing reacted angrily to the laws, and responded by drawing baselines of its territorial sea around Scarborough Shoal.

In light of the passage of the new laws, Amador stressed, “only the PCG (Philippine Coast Guard] and other Philippine maritime agencies have the authority to enforce laws in our maritime domain.” 

Professor Chester Cabalza, who heads International Development and Security Cooperation, a Manila think-tank, said that Chinese control of Scarborough Shoal  appeared to be part of Beijing’s strategy to dominate all features in the South China Sea.

“China sows a thin layer of episodic harassment in trying to pursue complete ownership of the West Philippine Sea,” Cabalza told BenarNews, using the Filipino name for South China Sea waters within its EEZ.

“For them, Scarborough Shoal is a major conquest. If they succeed in occupying it, it gives them total control of the largest coral atoll nearest to the Zambales province,” he said, referring to the western coast of Luzon that faces the South China Sea.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.