ANALYSIS – Where was the U.S. Navy? On March 5, the Philippines, one of America's most important allies in the western Pacific, said that the deliberately reckless maneuvers of Chinese Coast Guard vessels caused two collisions with Philippine Navy vessels.
The Philippines added that the Chinese water cannoned one of the Filipino navy boats, leaving four sailors injured during a resupply mission in the South China Sea. (RELATED: Could This Disputed Shoal Spark War With Beijing?)
The Chinese coast guard falsely claimed that the Filipino vessel had rammed its ship. The incidents happened in waters around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands where the countries have competing maritime claims.
But China's claims were rendered illegal by the U.N. And the U.S. has pledged to defend its ally.
Tensions in the South China Sea have risen over the past year with Manila accusing Beijing of taking dangerous actions against its boats and lodging multiple diplomatic protests.
A small Filipino navy and marine contingent has manned a former warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, deliberately grounded by the Philippine military in the late 1990s. It was placed in the shallows of Second Thomas Shoal to serve as a territorial outpost. (RELATED: US Marines And Japanese Forces To Defend Islands From China)
The Filipino naval vessels were on the way to deliver supplies and replacement troops to their outpost when they clashed with the Chinese warships.
Despite the incident, the second Philippine vessel was able to dock with the beached ship and resupply the troops on the shoal.
Forbes reported:
In a statement issued on X, Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said their vessels faced “dangerous maneuvers and blocking from Chinese Coast Guard vessels,” and these “reckless and illegal actions” resulted in a collision.
Tarriela said the incident resulted in minor structural damage to one of the Philippines Coast Guard's vessels.
An official statement noted the Chinese vessels deployed water cannons to harass the Philippine ship and this resulted in injuries to at least four people onboard.
A[n] aerial video shared by Tarriela showed two Chinese vessels firing their water cannons at one of the Philippine Coast Guard's ship[s].
This dramatic collision marks the most serious confrontation between the two countries over the disputed South China Sea in recent times.
China illegally claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. (RELATED: China Creating Security Beachhead On Strategic Pacific Island)
Despite the damning video evidence, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning shamelessly accused the Philippine vessels of trespassing into China's sovereign territory.
He said: “The Chinese Coast Guard took necessary control measures against Philippine ships in accordance with the law, and the on-site operations were professional, restrained, reasonable and legal.”
Earlier, Mao had dismissed Manila's prior complaints, saying: “There is no such situation of China “harassing” the Philippines.”
But the Philippines government isn't backing down.
The Philippines won't let China remove any military outposts on disputed shoals, “these are red lines,” said Filipino Navy Commodore Roy Trinidad. He added that Filipino forces will not allow any structure to be erected by China in the contested Scarborough Shoal either.
In a major confrontation 12 years ago, China surrounded the vast fishing atoll northwest of the Philippines with coastguard and suspected militia ships in 2012 after a tense stand-off between Chinese and Philippine ships.
This time, the United States issued a warning to China that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if its troops, ships or aircraft come under armed attack anywhere in the South China Sea. (RELATED: General Tells Hawaii Marines – Prepare For War In Pacific)
However, despite increasing joint naval patrols between the two allies, the U.S. navy was nowhere to be seen during this foreseeable confrontation. This shows that Beijing is not deterred by the U.S. Navy under the command of Joe Biden.
And this continued weakness is sure to provoke even greater Chinese aggression.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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