The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday confirmed the presence of Chinese ships on Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
AFP Western Command commander Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said five Chinese maritime militia vessels (CMMV) were inside Ayungin, while four others were outside the shoal.
Carlos said CMMVs started entering the shoal—where the BRP Sierra Madre is grounded—this year.
“Every time we see them inside the shoal, we deploy our rubber boats to drive them away non-confrontationally. We make them leave,” Carlos told ABS-CBN News in an interview.
“The term always is non-confrontationally driving them away because it’s a calibrated response and we do not want to escalate the situation there anymore,” he added.
Carlos and AFP chief General Romeo Brawner, Jr. personally joined Sunday’s mission to Ayungin Shoal. They were on board the supply boat Unaizah Mae 1.
The officials witnessed how Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels shadowed, blocked with water cannons, and conducted dangerous maneuvers against the Philippine resupply team.
Carlos said they monitored some 40 Chinese vessels in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal during the mission.
This developed as the Philippine Coast Guard said tensions in the West Philippine Sea may escalate if Manila sends military ships to counter Beijing’s aggression in the waterway.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the WPS, said if Philippine Navy ships are sent to the resupply mission, China would also change its deployment plan and justify deploying its People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels.
“The reason why the [China Coast Guard] has been deploying its CCG vessels is because we are using civilian indigenous boats, only escorted by the PCG. To emphasize, PCG vessels are white ships. For them to counter-respond to this, they are deploying CMMVs [Chinese maritime militia vessels] and CCGVs [Chinese Coast Guard vessels],” Tarriela told ANC.
“If we are going to change the tone and deploy a warship instead of white ships, we can expect that the Chinese will also be escalating their projection of power and give them a better excuse to say that we are going to deploy our PLAN vessels as well,” he said.
Tarriela acknowledged that resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal are military operations, but noted that the Philippines did not want to militarize the dispute.
In delivering fresh provisions to troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre, the Philippines relies on military-chartered boats, with Philippine Coast Guard ships acting as escorts.
Also, advisers on National Security of the Philippines, United States, and Japan have jointly called on China to stop “further provocative behavior” as they expressed concerns over Beijing’s recent “dangerous and unlawful” moves in the WPS, the White House said Thursday.
“They expressed concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) recent dangerous and unlawful conduct near Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Reef, and called on the PRC to abide by the legally binding July 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling and desist from further provocative behavior,” the White House said, referring to the US’ Jake Sullivan, Japan’s Akiba Takeo, and the Philippines’ Eduardo Año.
Sullivan, the White House said, reaffirmed the ironclad alliance commitments of the US to both Japan and the Philippines.
The Philippines and the United States have agreed to intensify their bilateral and multilateral coordination with other countries amid China’s growing aggression, which Washington described as “coercive and unlawful.”
“They agreed to bolster bilateral and multilateral coordination with other like-minded partners to enhance interoperability and accelerate the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” a readout from Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder said.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had a phone call on Wednesday night and discussed boosting coordination after China again used water cannons on Philippine vessels in areas being claimed by Beijing, Washington said.
AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. on Wednesday said he had a conversation with the Chinese envoy to Manila regarding the resupply missions in the West Philippine Sea.
“I talked to Ambassador Huang [Xilian] when we met once. I told him that this is not your territory, in fact, that is our Exclusive Economic Zone. So, please do not block our resupply ships,” he said in a radio interview.
“I also told him not to block the Christmas convoy. I informed him that they were civilians and merely bringing Christmas food and gifts to our soldiers and the communities in the West Philippine Sea,” the AFP chief added.
However, Brawner said the Chinese ambassador replied by insisting that the area was China’s territory.
“He said ‘You are provoking us.’ So I told him, ‘No, you are the ones provoking us,” Brawner said.
China also condemned Canada’s support for the Philippines in “violating” China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea, said a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada.
“The South China Sea is the common home of countries in the region and should not become a hunting ground for Canada, the United States, and other countries to pursue their geopolitical interests,” said a spokesperson for the embassy in a statement on Thursday.