Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said tensions at Ayungin Shoal have escalated after the Chinese coast guard blocked the emergency medical evacuation of a Philippine Navy personnel assigned to the BRP Sierra Madre, according to Philstar.com.
The evacuation was completed last Thursday but took nearly 10 hours because of what the Philippine Coast Guard described as dangerous maneuvers and harassment of Philippine vessels by its Chinese counterpart, Philstar.com reported. China has denied the accusation and criticized the PCG for allegedly ignoring the facts and misleading the public, the same report said.
Why it matters
The incident has become the latest flashpoint in the long-running maritime dispute between Manila and Beijing over the West Philippine Sea, the name the Philippines uses for the portion of the South China Sea it claims. Marcos said the episode would be taken up in talks on a binding Code of Conduct for claimants in the waterway, according to Philstar.com.
The BRP Sierra Madre is a rusting ship grounded on Ayungin Shoal that serves as a Philippine military installation, which gives the site both strategic and symbolic weight in the dispute. The evacuation involved a Filipino soldier stationed aboard that vessel.
Marcos: more requirements, and the Philippines will not follow them
Marcos said the situation at the shoal has changed, telling reporters that more conditions are now being imposed for movement in the area, Philstar.com reported.
"Unfortunately, there really is an escalation. Before, there was no problem there. But somehow now, there are more stated requirements for permission," the President said.
He added that no permission had been needed previously and that Philippine operations there did not require such steps before. According to Philstar.com, Marcos said the Philippines would not comply with the growing demands from China, framing the matter in terms of the country acting within its own territory.
"The requirements are increasing. We will not follow that," he said. "In my own property, you're going to tell me what I'm allowed to do and not to do, within my own territory?"
Marcos called the blocking of the medical evacuation "distressing," noting that Red Cross humanitarian workers are granted access even during wars, Philstar.com reported. He praised the PCG and Navy personnel at Ayungin for defending the country's rights and sovereignty despite the risks, and said the incident appeared to signal a new phase in escalation in the West Philippine Sea.
The President also said the Philippines has been receiving assistance from its allies as it deals with the maritime row, which he described as a sticky problem, according to Philstar.com.
Competing accounts of the evacuation
The two governments have offered sharply different versions of what happened during the medical mission, with each side blaming the other.
The PCG accused the Chinese coast guard of blocking the evacuation and of carrying out dangerous maneuvers and harassment that stretched the operation to almost 10 hours, Philstar.com reported. Beijing rejected that account and said the PCG disregarded the facts and misled public opinion, according to the same report.
The competing narratives were reflected in coverage across the region. The Manila Times reported China's denial that it obstructed the PCG medical evacuation. The South China Morning Post described the two capitals trading blame over the medical mission. China Daily, in an opinion piece, said the Philippines was twisting the truth again. The Daily Tribune reported that the Armed Forces of the Philippines evacuated a crew member of the BRP Sierra Madre for urgent medical treatment.
Philstar.com reported that the evacuation was completed last Thursday.
Chinese militia vessel and sampans reported near Kota Island
Separately, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea condemned what it said was the intrusion of a Chinese maritime militia vessel and 22 deployed sampans into the territorial sea of Kota Island on Friday, Philstar.com reported. The task force said the presence of the vessels has no basis under international law.
According to the same report, the Chinese vessels carried out unauthorized fishing and dumped waste at sea, and one sampan came as close as 250 meters from the island's shoreline.
What to watch
Attention now turns to whether the Ayungin incident is raised in the negotiations over a binding Code of Conduct, which Marcos said would include the episode in its discussions, and to how Manila and Beijing handle the next reported encounter at sea.
