China’s ‘aggressive actions’, territorial claims raise tensions with Philippines

Experts warn of heightened tensions as Manila resists Beijing’s unilateral actions in disputed waters to its enforce territorial claims

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A China Coast Guard ship (right) deploys water cannon at a Phillipine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel BRP. Photo: National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea/AFP

Published: 4:30pm, 5 Dec 2024

The recent “aggressive actions” against Philippine vessels near the disputed Scarborough Shoal were intended to enforce China’s newly formalised territorial claims, analysts say, with experts warning of heightened instability as Manila resists Beijing’s unilateral imposition of boundaries in the South China Sea.

On Wednesday, the China Coast Guard released a statement saying it had blocked and fired water cannons at four Philippine vessels that attempted to “intrude into the territorial waters” surrounding the shoal – known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.

According to a statement by the Philippine Coast Guard, the blocked vessels were conducting “a routine maritime patrol” along with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to support Filipino fishermen in the area when they were subjected to “aggressive actions” from several Chinese coastguard vessels and two ships from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.

On Thursday, the Philippines’ foreign ministry announced it filed a diplomatic protest against China over the December 4 incident in the South China Sea. This is the 60th protest this year and the 193rd since President Ferdinand Marcos, Jnr took office in 2022.

The incident comes just two days after China submitted a copy of their own geographic coordinates and nautical charts for the baselines defining the territory around the Scarborough Shoal with the United Nations.

Maritime expert Jay Batongbacal, head of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, told This Week in Asia that China’s actions are meant to reinforce its claims throughout the West Philippine Sea–Manila’s name for South China Sea waters that lie within its exclusive economic zone.