MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Saturday, August 10, said China’s air force “endangered the lives” of Filipino soldiers who were carrying out a “maritime security operation” over Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea on Thursday, August 8.
In a statement, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said a Philippine Air Force (PAF) NC-212i plane was “conducting a routine maritime patrol” over the shoal the morning of the 8th when two planes from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) “executed a dangerous maneuver at around 9:00AM and dropped flares in the path of our NC-212i.”
“The incident posed a threat to Philippine Air Force (PAF) aircraft and its crew, interfered with lawful flight operations in airspace within Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction, and contravened international law and regulations governing safety of aviation,” added Brawner.
Brawner said the PAF crew arrived at Clark Air Base around an hour after the incident over the West Philippine Sea. “All personnel on board were unharmed,” he added.
The military chief added that the incident had been reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies.
“We reaffirm our commitment to exercise our rights in accordance with international law, particularly UNCLOS and the Chicago Convention,” he added, referring to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
Scarborough Shoal is a feature located some 120 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales, well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). But since it is a high-tide elevation, it generates a 12-nautical mile territorial sea of its own, which also covers the air space above it. While the 2016 arbitral ruling affirmed the Philippines’ EEZ, it could not determine sovereignty claims over the shoal because this was outside the tribunal’s scope.
The shoal is claimed by both the Philippines and China, although Beijing has controlled it since 2012 following a tense standoff with Manila.
While Manila backed off, following a deal brokered by the United States, Beijing did not. Several Chinese ships — from the China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia — are a constant in the area surrounding the shoal, as well as the lagoon. China has routinely barred Filipino fisherfolk from accessing the shoal despite it being the traditional fishing ground of fisherfolk from the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.
On August 7, China’s Southern Theater Command announced that it was holding a “joint combat patrol” near Scarborough Shoal, just as the Philippines, United States, Australia, and Canada held a joint maritime exercise in the West Philippine Sea.
The AFP said then that while there was “no trace” of the Chinese military in the vicinity of the shoal, three Chinese Navy ships had “tailed” the joint air and sea drills of the four countries.
China claims a huge part of the South China Sea, including an area Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, which includes the Philippines’ EEZ. It refuses to recognize a 2016 arbitral ruling that affirmed the Philippines’ EEZ and has accused the Philippines of stirring up trouble in those waters. – Rappler.com