The Pentagon asserted that China’s latest action against two Philippine vessels endangered not only the lives but also of livelihood of Filipinos, even as the international community backed the Philippines in the latest sea incident.
Meanwhile, China justified the its Coast Guard’s action when it fired a water cannon on the Philippines troops in the waters off Bajo de Masinloc.
Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesman of the US Defense Department, said at a briefing Tuesday, April 30 (Washington time), that the “repeated harassment” on the Philippine vessels was “detrimental to regional peace and stability.”
“And our belief is that the Chinese coast guard installation of these barriers also endangers Philippine fisherfolk’s livelihoods and prevents them from exercising their legal rights to fish in those waters,” Patel said.
Patel was referring to the rights that he said “were set out in 2016 in a final and legally binding judgment in the Philippines-China arbitration brought to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, and consistently.”
“And this is something that the Secretary made clear on his travels as well... we urge the PRC to respect the navigational rights and freedoms guaranteed to all states under international law,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lin Jian, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said their move came after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel entered waters being claimed by China "without permission."
That "seriously infringed on China’s sovereignty," Lin said.
"China Coast Guard took necessary measures to expel them in accordance with the law. China urges the Philippines to stop making infringement and provocations at once and not to challenge China’s resolve to defend our sovereignty," he added.
On April 29, PCG's BRP Bagacay and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)'s BRP Bankaw encountered dangerous maneuvers and obstruction from four China Coast Guard vessels and six Chinese Maritime Militia vessels.
Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman, said Tuesday, April 30, the incident happened in the waters off Bajo de Masinloc while the two vessels were carrying out fuel and food supplies mission to fishermen at sea.
China's water cannon attack was condemned by many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Australia, South Korea, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the European Union.
All of them expressed concern about the incident.
"Today we unfortunately witnessed other dangerous actions that are not in line with international law," Dutch Ambassador Mariella Geraedts stressed.