China's coast guard said it had on humanitarian grounds "allowed" the Philippines to evacuate a person who had fallen ill on a rusting warship beached on the Second Thomas Shoal, a claim Manila's coast guard said was "ridiculous".
"This statement confirms their illegal deployment of vessels within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) and highlights their government's view that the preservation of human life and welfare requires approval," Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Jay Tarriela said on X.
In a statement, the Chinese Coast Guard said it had monitored the entire rescue operation on Sunday, which a spokesperson said was made at the request of the Philippines.
The Philippine coast guard then reported "numerous obstructing and delaying manoeuvres" by China's coast guard while it carried out the medical evacuation.
A month ago, the PCG accused its Chinese counterpart of blocking a medical evacuation from the warship, calling the actions "barbaric and inhumane".
China's foreign ministry said the same day that China will allow the Philippines to deliver supplies and evacuate personnel if Manila notifies Beijing ahead of a mission.
The Philippines has soldiers living aboard a rusty, aging warship on the Second Thomas Shoal, which was deliberately grounded by Manila in 1999 to reinforce its maritime claims.
China's navy has clashed several times with Philippines forces seeking to resupply the grounded ship.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key conduit for $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, as its own territory. Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.
© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024.
15 Comments
isabelle
China "allowed" the Philippines to operate legally in its own internationally-recognized waters? How magnanimous of the Emperor.
Exactly right. Xi may be more suited to stand-up comedy than brutal dictatorship.
Peter14
Proof positive that China wants control of its neighbors territory. Delusions of grandeur and importance from Beijing. All nations must beware of China and the CCP's intentions. Its actions are so often opposite from its statements of friendly intentions.
China must be opposed, as it cannot be trusted. Manila understands this all to well.
ian
If China attacks Philippines' territory then the US is obligated to defend the Philippines under the defence agreement between the US and the Philippines
ian
We'll find out if US ships venture into China territory
TaiwanIsNotChina
Why is the warmongering power "allowing" anything? Get the US in there and do what you need to do, Phillipines!!!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Which only includes 12 nm from populated non-artificial land. More likely we will see when the US exercises its freedom of navigation in international waters and China does something stupid.
ian
JJE
Being confined to a rusty, asbestos ridden hulk that is illegally grounded is a virtual death sentence. Kudos for facilitating the rescue of this victim.
Important to observe Taiwan also claims the Second Thomas Shoal and their overall claim in the SCS matches Beijing's. Vietnam also claims it too.
Certain quarters frequently conveniently ignore this fact.
isabelle
As I say each time you regurgitate this falsehood: there's nothing illegal about the Philippines putting a Philippine ship in Philippine waters.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
That's ... actually a bit of a doozy. The problem is whether you believe the Shoals count as land. The Permanent Court of Arbitration's solution was that it doesn't stick out of the water enough to count as land, so it is ocean, and control of the relevant surface is determined by EEZs ranging out from other places that are at least of island size - that happens to make it Filipino.
However, both the PRC and the Phillippines act like that was land (you don't beach a ship onto a random point in the mundane ocean as a makeshift base). If we accept the Shoals are land, then the PRC has a valid, in fact probably leading claim to the land - it helps that China was at least a country when the Phillippines was an US colony. And if it is Chinese land, then even as a "rock" it can generate the 12 mile territorial sea - so we'd have a patch of Chinese territorial sea interrupting Philippines EEZ.
Further, without disputing most of the PCA's judgment, it's still possible to beef about this one because it exceeds the PCA's own self-admitted boundaries - it can't adjudicate sovereignty claims. Refusal of nine-dashed line or downgrading islands into rocks doesn't attack the sovereignty claim, only the extent of water that the claim influences. Defining a piece of land as not land does attack and neutralize the claim, which the PCA admitted was beyond what it can do because it is beyond what UNCLOS controls for - this creates an argument at least this part of the judgment is void ab initio due to ultra vires.
Thus, the PRC's legal claim may be better than what people give it credit for.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Nothing illegal about putting an outpost in an area frequented by Chinese pirates. The Philippines doesn't obstruct anyone's navigation through the area that is behaving lawfully.
Important to observe that this fact is irrelevant and the problem remains China's Warmongering.
TaiwanIsNotChina
All you have to do is look at a map to see the ridiculousness of China's claim. You don't get to make territorial sea out of nothing, either.
ian
I agree. Except for the part that this is the PCA's judgement. As I understand it the PCA was just the registry for the proceedings, the tribunal who made the judgement was just an ad hoc one constituted for this purpose
JJE
All you have to do is "look at a map" now.
Oh, I see.
Certain quarters dismissed a map posted earlier which directly contradicted certain assertions, despite it being unequivocal and from the most reliable source.
How convenient.
Sh1mon M4sada
Forgot how China allowed Tibetan to be ruled by them?
Forgot how China allowed Uyghurs to be ruled by them?
Forgot how China allowed Mongolian and Russian to be ruled by them?
Forgot how Yueh ethnics allowed Han Chinese to rule them?