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View all search resultsChina says Philippines distorted facts about incident near disputed atoll
The Philippine coastguard said over the weekend that three Filipino fishermen were injured and two fishing vessels damaged when Chinese coastguard ships cut their anchor lines and fired water cannon near the Sabina Shoal on Friday, actions the Philippine defense secretary denounced as "dangerous" and "inhumane".
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This handout photo taken on May 19, 2024 and received on June 4, 2024 from the Armed Forces of the Philippines shows two Chinese rigid-hulled inflatable boats (left and right) maneuvering close to Philippine personnel on board their boats (second left and right) near the Philippine outpost at Second Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The Philippine military said June 4 that Chinese boats illegally “seized“ food and medicine airdropped to a Filipino outpost in the South China Sea. Chinese personnel on board the boats later dumped the items in the water, a Philippine Navy spokesman said. (AFP/Handout/Armed Forces of the Philippines)
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hina's defense ministry accused the Philippines on Wednesday of distorting the facts about an incident involving the Chinese coastguard and Filipino fishermen near a South China Sea shoal, a charge Manila strongly rejected.
The Philippine coastguard said over the weekend that three Filipino fishermen were injured and two fishing vessels damaged when Chinese coastguard ships cut their anchor lines and fired water cannon near the Sabina Shoal on Friday, actions the Philippine defense secretary denounced as "dangerous" and "inhumane".
The Chinese ministry defended its coastguard's actions as "reasonable, lawful, professional and restrained", and vowed to "take strong and effective measures" in response to "all acts of infringement and provocation", according to a statement released on its social media account.
"The Philippine side amassed a large number of ships in an organized and premeditated manner to illegally intrude" into the atoll's lagoon, the ministry said. "Philippine personnel even threatened Chinese coastguard on site with a knife," it added.
Philippine defense ministry spokesperson Arsenio Andolong maintained that Manila has evidence to counter China’s assertions.
"The facts are not distorted. They are documented, timestamped, and corroborated by video recordings, vessel logs, and on-site reporting by the Philippine Coast Guard," Andolong said in a statement.
"The Philippines is not hyping the issue, the facts speak for themselves. These are aggressive and excessive actions of an encroaching state," he added.
Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as Xianbin Reef and the Philippines as the Escoda Shoal, lies in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone 150 km west of Palawan province.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a waterway supporting more than $3 trillion of annual commerce. The areas Beijing claims cut into the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
An international arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that Beijing's sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.
