Philippines' Marcos condemns China's 'illegal and reckless' actions over disputed reef in South China Sea

MANILA: The Philippines on Sunday denounced China’s “unjustified, illegal and reckless” actions against one of its planes that was conducting patrols earlier in the week in the disputed South China Sea.

Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr. in a statement “strongly condemns” the air incident and stands by the brave men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), especially the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

The country’s state news agency cited the Armed Forces of the Philippines reporting on August 10 about the “dangerous and provocative actions” of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) which harassed a PAF aircraft conducting maritime patrols over Bajo de Masinloc, located some 120 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales, well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The air incident took place in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) when two Chinese fighter jets executed a dangerous manoeuvre at around 9 a.m. and dropped flares in the path of the NC-212i on August 8. The Scarborough Shoal is controlled by China. China seized the shoal in 2012, following a standoff with the Philippines. Sovereignty of islands in the area has not been determined by an international court. Meanwhile, the Philippines refer to it as the West Philippine Sea.

“The actions of the People’s Liberation Army - Air Force aircraft were unjustified, illegal and reckless, especially as the PAF aircraft was undertaking a routine maritime security operation in Philippine sovereign airspace,” the Presidential Palace, Malacanang, said in a statement posted on social media.

“We have hardly started to calm the waters, and it is already worrying that there could be instability in our airspace,” it added.

China has however claimed that Philippine aircraft “illegally entered the airspace” over its Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea. In a statement released by the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Saturday as cited by China’s state-run Global Times. (ANI)

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