China Coast Guard vessels ram BFAR ship headed to Escoda Shoal
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:04 p.m.) — Vessels of the Chinese Coast Guard have rammed and used water cannon at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources' BRP Datu Sanday on Sunday while the ship was on its way to Escoda Shoal to bring fuel and food supply for the fishermen near the shoal.
Multiple video reports show that Chinese Coast Guard ship 21551 rammed Datu Sanday on its port side.
BREAKING NEWS: A China Coast Guard vessel with bow number 21551 collided with the BRP Datu Sanday, a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), while heading to Escoda Shoal on Sunday, August 25, 2024. @News5PH pic.twitter.com/uTw2ByEc0x
— Gio Robles (@_GioRobles) August 25, 2024
Other videos also show that multiple Chinese Coast Guard vessels fired water canon at the Philippine vessel simultaneously.
According to Chinese state media, its coast guard, which occupies Philippine waters, took “control measures” against the Datu Sanday.
"The Philippine vessel 3002 illegally intruded into the waters near Xianbin Reef in the Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government," Chinese State Media CCTV said, using the Chinese names for the Sabina Shoal and the Spratly Islands.
The Philippine Coast Guard has yet to release a statement concerning the incident but reports said there were injuries or damage reported so far.
Meanwhile, last August 22, Chinese jets once again fired flares in a plane of the BFAR over Zamora Reef. This has been the third time Chinese air assets have harassed BFAR’s plane while conducting routing flights on Philippine airspace.
The first was on August 8 over Scarborough Shoal and the second was on August 19 over Panatag Shoal.
China asserts sovereignty over almost the entirety of the West Philippine Sea, dismissing the 2016 UN arbitral tribunal ruling that its nine-dash line claim lacks legal validity.
China, through its coast guard and maritime militia, often harasses Filipino fishermen and the elements of the Philippine Coast Guard in the water it encroaches.
To strengthen its position, China has deployed vessels to patrol the heavily trafficked waterway and constructed artificial islands, which it has militarized.
'Unacceptable'
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, fisherfolk group PAMALAKAYA condemned the latest aggression of the Chinese Coast Guard.
"Hindi katanggap-tanggap at dapat hindi palampasin ang ginawa ng China Coast Guard sa barko ng Pilipinas na maghahatid sana ng pagkain sa mga Pilipinong mangingisda sa Escoda Shoal," the group said in a statement. (The actions of the China Coast Guard against the Philippine vessel, which was supposed to deliver food to Filipino fishermen at Escoda Shoal, are unacceptable and should not be overlooked.)
"Dapat kilalanin at pag-ibahin ng China ang trato nito sa mga barkong pandigma at barkong sibilyan na ang tanging layunin ay malayang makapaglayag, o makapangisda sa West Philippine Sea," it added. (China should recognize and differentiate its treatment of warships from that of civilian vessels, whose sole purpose is to navigate freely or fish in the West Philippine Sea.)
— with reports from Agence France-Presse and Gio Robles/News5
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