The foreign ministers of the Philippines and China yesterday exchanged “strong” protests over an encounter between the two countries’ vessels at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea earlier this week.
In a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila, Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro reiterated the protest over China Coast Guard (CCG)’s “unacceptable actions against Filipino personnel,” she said in a post on X.
The incident in question took place on Monday at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, during a confrontation between Philippine marines and personnel from the CCG. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that a Philippine marine sustained a significant head injury after being struck with a baton by a CCG sailor.
According to the AFP, the confrontation took place after a CCG boat carrying eight personnel came within close range of the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded Philippine warship that serves as the Philippines’ outpost on the shoal. Two Philippine dinghies then attempted “calmly and non-confrontationally” to drive it away, and a melee ensued. China disputed this claim, asserting that the Philippines side was to blame for instigating the incident and ramming the CCG boat.
