First, it was the People’s Liberation Army-Navy and Coast Guard that aggressively enforced China’s territorial claim over nearly all of the South China Sea based on a mythical ‘9-dash line’ (now even expanded to a ‘10-dash line’).
Now, China has begun to employ even the PLA’s air force to impose its will over the West Philippine Sea where we have our Exclusive Economic Zone based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Recently, Chinese fighter jets conducted “dangerous and provocative actions” against one of our planes patrolling over a disputed South China Sea reef.
Reports said two Chinese aircraft “executed a dangerous maneuver at around 9:00 am and dropped flares in the path of our NC-212i,” fumed Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner, referring to the recent incident over the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
The Chinese action clearly “endangered the lives of our personnel undertaking maritime security operations,” although the pilot and crew were unharmed and safely returned to a northern Philippines air base.
Our military has been targeted by Beijing in an increasingly tense confrontation in the South China Sea. In fact, China seized Scarborough Shoal after a 2012 standoff with the Philippines.
The latest incident follows an earlier clash off Second Thomas Shoal where one of our Navy men lost a thumb in a confrontation where the Chinese Coast Guard also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment, including firearms.
The source of escalation of tension in the West Philippine Sea is China which has deployed hundreds of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels to prevent our own Coast Guard, Navy and fishermen from entering our own EEZ.
Now even their air force has entered the fray – and elevated the territorial dispute beyond the scope of dialogue and peaceful negotiations.
0:03 Following the Second Thomas Shoal clash the two countries agreed on a “provisional arrangement” for resupplying Filipino troops based on a decrepit warship grounded atop the reef, and also to increase the number of communication lines to resolve disputes in the waterway.
We don’t really know what the two sides agreed upon, but the latest harassment of our Air Force in the WPS tells us the “provisional arrangement” is dead in the water.
The recent Chinese air force action took place a day after China carried out a combat patrol near the flashpoint reef to test the “strike capabilities” of its troops.
Hence, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is entirely correct in its strong condemnation of the dangerous actions of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
This latest incident not only endangered the lives of our personnel undertaking maritime security operations but also blatantly contravened international law and regulations governing safety of aviation.
China should stop all these provocations that only reveal its total lack of commitment to a rules-based order in this part of the globe.
