Philippines summons China ambassador over boat incident

Philippine officials said on Monday that Manila summoned Beijing's ambassador to convey a diplomatic protest over a recent confrontation in the highly disputed South China Sea. 

Manila accused the Chinese coast guard of "excessive and offensive" use of water cannons to stop a Filipino supply boat carrying food, water, fuel and new army personnel on Saturday.

The US, Britain, the EU and Australia have all condemned China's action. 

Beijing said it was taking "necessary controls" against Philippines boats that had "illegally" entered its waters.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling against those claims. Trillions of dollars in trade pass through the South China Sea annually. 

On Monday, A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the coast guard acted professionally to "lawfully" stop two Philippine vessels.

What did the Philippines say? 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that his foreign minister summoned Ambassador Huang "and gave him a note verbale including pictures, video about what happened and we are awaiting their reply." 

"The position of China, of course, is they say 'this is ours so we are defending it' and we, for our part, are saying 'no, we own it so we are defending it'. So, that becomes a grey area that we are discussing," Marcos told reporters. 

The Filipino boat in the incident was delivering supplies and a new batch of troops to the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal.

It is located in the Spratly Islands, an atoll about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometers from China's nearest major landmass of Hainan island. China has already built several military installations on other atolls in the Spratlys. 

Manila has long complained that China's coast guard and navy vessels block or shadow its ships in the contested waters. However, Saturday's confrontation was the first time since November 2021 that water cannon was used against the resupply mission to that shoal. 

What is Marcos' approach toward China?

The Philippine former president, Rodrigo Duterte, had sought closer ties with China during his tenure from 2016 to 2022, while moving away from the US.

Duterte was also reluctant to criticize China, despite the history of disputes over the South China Sea. 

But Duterte's successor is seen as reverting the Philippines to its more traditional pro-Western alignment and taking a more assertive stance in the contested maritime area.

Since taking office in 2022, Marcos has vowed to keep a "friendship" with Beijing but not to let it trample on Manila's maritime rights.

Washington condemned the latest incident in the South China Sea. Beijing's Foreign Ministry on Monday accused the US of "blatantly" backing "the Philippines' violation of China's sovereignty." 

fb/wmr (AFP, AP, Reuters)