The China Coast Guard has been condemned by the Philippines because of firing water cannon at its vessels in the South China Sea. According to the news, all the boats were going to Ayungin Shoal on Saturday because of the resupply mission at the BRP Sierra Madre.
The PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) issued a criticizing statement about China’s coast guards’ illegal and dangerous manoeuvres use of water cannons which were used against the vessels that were escorting the indigenous boats chartered by the Armed forces of the Philippines to deliver food, water, fuel, and other supplies.
The PCG has called on the China coast Guard to restrain its forces and respect all the sovereign rights of the Philippines that also in its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, which has refrained from hampering the freedom of navigation and taking all sorts of inappropriate actions against the individuals involved in this unlawful incident this was spoken by the spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea commodore Jay Mariela.
Chinese actions were condemned by the US state department which said in a statement that they were carried out by the coast guard and maritime militia and even mentioned that they directly threatened stability and their regional space. The second Thomas Shoal is 124 miles from the Philippine Islands and it is more than 1000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass.
China’s coast guard and navy vessels were routinely blocked are the shadow of Philippine ships patrolling the contested waters.
Since November 2021 Saturday’s incident has been the first time that the Chinese coast guard had used water canon against a Philippine resupply mission. These missions by the CCG not only disregarded the safety of the PCG crew and the supply boats but they even violated international law, including the 1982 (UNCLOS) United Nations Conventions on the law of the sea in the year 1972.
