The Philippines has demanded that China “cease all provocative and dangerous actions” after accusing it of recently firing at aircraft conducting patrols over the South China Sea.
The same aircraft also “faced harassment” from a Chinese jet fighter while on a surveillance flight near Scarborough Shoal on August 19, the Philippines’s South China Sea Task Force said on Saturday in a statement.
The two nations have had heightened maritime confrontations in recent months, causing fears of a conflict that could draw in the United States, a military ally of the Philippines.
“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] with the international community,” the interagency task force said.
The aircraft, which belonged to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), in coordination with the coastguard, monitors and intercepts poachers encroaching on the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.
The task force said the Chinese jet fighter, which was not provoked, deployed flares multiple times “at a dangerously close distance” from the BFAR aircraft.
“Its actions demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardized the safety of the personnel onboard the BFAR aircraft,” the task force said.
China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, and has a number of coastguard vessels in the waters to protect what it considers its territory. The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei all contest China’s claims.
Credit: aljazeera.com
