Philippines accuses China Coast Guard of firing water cannon at their supply ship
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said no one was injured in the November 16 incident at Second Thomas Shoal, but Philippine boats, which were transporting food for service members stationed there, had to be cancelled. give up their duties.
Locsin said he conveyed “in the strongest terms” to the Chinese ambassador to Manila “our outrage, condemnation and protest over the incident.”
Locsin warned that Beijing’s “failure to exercise self-restraint threatens the special relationship” between the two countries.
“China has no right to enforce the law in and around these areas. They have to pay attention and back down,” Locsin said.
Manila considers Second Thomas Shoal, which lies 105 nautical miles (195 km) southwest of Palawan in the Philippines, within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. It has occupied the shoal since 1999 after deliberately landing a navy ship on the reef.
China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, says the reef is part of its territory, but the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague was in favor of the Philippines.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to media requests for comment.
China claims vast waters in the South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have competing claims to some or all of the islands.
