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8a Q3L7 Article
8a Q3L7 Article
8a Q3L7 Article
Within just a few hours, the window of one Philippine boat would be
shattered by water cannon and four sailors aboard would be injured.
But what CNN journalists on board the Philippine Coast Guard vessel on
Tuesday witnessed was one of the most severe confrontations to date —
and a vivid illustration of how this David versus Goliath struggle in one of the
world’s busiest shipping waterways could spiral into the next global conflict.
The Philippine ship tried to find safe passage through myriad China Coast
Guard ships as well as fishing vessels that form part of China’s shadowy
“maritime militia” blocking their path.
The Philippines accused the China Coast Guard ships of colliding with two
of their vessels, causing damage to their exteriors. One of the smaller
Philippine boats was also hit by water cannons from two Chinese vessels,
shattering the windshield and leaving the crew on board with injuries.
China countered that its coast guard vessels “took control measures”
against Philippine ships that it claimed “illegally intruded” into its sovereign
territory. It said the damaged Philippine ship ignored repeated warnings and
“deliberately rammed” into a China Coast Guard vessel in what it said was
an “unprofessional and dangerous manner.”
Departing the sleepy port of Bulilyan on the southern tip of the Philippines’ Palawan
Island, two Philippine Coast Guard ships embarked on a 13-hour overnight journey
north to the Sabina Shoal, where they met up with two smaller resupply vessels
staffed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, transporting food, water and other
essentials.
The coast guard ships then tried to escort the smaller vessels as they navigated the
disputed waters on a four-hour steam toward the next location.
Their target was the Sierra Madre, a rusted ship that rests on a strategically vital
shoal that has become the epicenter of this simmering confrontation.
The US-built Philippine Navy landing craft was run aground deliberately in 1999, with
a national flag hoisted on board. Since then, rotating detachments of Filipino marines
have been living on board, hunkering down through tropical heat, typhoons and long
spells away from home in a bid to assert territorial rights and prevent any Chinese
development there.
The vessel rests atop a contested reef, which even has a name that is under
dispute. Though internationally known as the Second Thomas Shoal, the
Philippines call the reef Ayungin Shoal, and China refers to it as Ren’ai Jiao.
During the confrontation, Filipino crews counted a total of five China Coast
Guard vessels, 18 boats belonging to Beijing’s “maritime militia” – and at a
further distance, two Chinese naval vessels and a military helicopter, said
Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela on Wednesday.
“The Philippines is solely responsible for this,” China’s Coast Guard said.
“The Philippines is dishonest in its statements, deliberately stirs up trouble,
maliciously incites and sensationalizes, and continues to undermine peace
and stability in the South China Sea region.”
Over the last few decades, China has built up tiny reefs and sandbars far
from its shores across the waterway into artificial islands heavily fortified
with missiles, runways and weapons systems – sparking outcry from the
other claimants.
But Beijing has rejected the tribunal’s ruling and continued its military
buildup, with many features lying hundreds of miles away from China’s
mainland. It also maintains a large presence of coast guard and fishing
vessels – which has frequently stoked tensions with its neighbors.
China’s Foreign Ministry has long defended the behavior of its vessels in the
South China Sea and said Beijing will “firmly safeguard” what it views as its
territorial sovereignty. It insists that the Philippines is illegally occupying the
Second Thomas Shoal.
The US military also maintains a regular presence in the South China Sea,
with aircraft overflights, so-called “freedom of navigation” operations, and
patrols and exercises with allies and partners to assert that the South China
Sea is an international waterway.
Last week, Marcos Jr. told Australian lawmakers that his country is on the
“front line” of maritime disputes and “will not yield” an inch of territory.
The Philippines ambassador to the US, Jose Manuel Romualdez, also said
last week that the South China Sea - not Taiwan - is the “real flashpoint” for
an armed conflict in the region, and warned that “all hell breaks loose” if
Washington decides to invoke its mutual defense treaty to protect Manila,
according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.
Diplomacy has taken place between the two sides, with a bilateral meeting
held in Shanghai between China and the Philippines late January and both
sides agreeing to calm tensions and find ways to communicate over their
differences.
The missions are exhausting and dangerous, and often carried out in
sweltering temperatures, but there’s a sense of pride among the crew, who
believe they are trying to protect their nation’s territory. They call themselves
“Coast Guardians.”
The Japanese-built BRP Camra MRRV 4409 Coast Guard vessel – the ship
which CNN joined - was previously water cannoned by the China Coast
Guard, and it was involved in a collision with a Chinese fishing vessel.
On Tuesday, CNN witnessed Chinese ships carrying out several risky
maneuvers around the vessel, including a China Coast Guard ship which
stopped right in front of the Camra’s path, and also steamed past
dangerously close to the starboard side of the vessel. Large “maritime
militia” vessels also sailed within a few meters of the Camra.
Tarriela, the Coast Guard spokesperson, said a China Coast Guard vessel had come
within 20 yards (60 feet) of the Cabra.
The ship has 23 crew on board this deployment, some of whom told CNN that they
had been on a years-long deployment on this ship, working 12-hour days for two
months straight, then taking a month off back on shore with their families.
Under conditions imposed by the Philippine Coast Guard, CNN was unable to speak
on record to any crew members.
The women and the officers on board stay in bunk rooms, and the rest of the crew
sleep in a communal room below deck, which also doubles up as the dining hall –
unfortunately making it a favorite spot for cockroaches.
But the living conditions on the coast guard vessel are still far better than on the
wreck of the Sierra Madre.
A decade ago, former CNN journalist Tomas Etzler traveled out to the shoal and
stayed with the marines on the rusting ruin of the rat- and roach-infested vessel.
They caught their own fish and cooked them on board for most of their meals, and
they tried to create a makeshift gym using random items on the deck as weights.
To make their time a little easier, care packages are sometimes airdropped into the
ocean – in 2014, that included letters of support from schoolchildren, and fried
chicken from the Philippine fast food institution Jollibee.
The marines, who usually carry out a 90-day deployment on the ship, are
sometimes rotated out during the resupply missions at sea – with a
successful rotation carried out on Tuesday, said Tarriela.
During the mission, only one of the two resupply boats successfully made it
to the Sierra Madre due to the Chinese maritime blockade, reducing their
supplies until next month’s attempted mission – which will likely face the
same confrontations with China. Still, the fact that they managed to deliver
supplies at all made the trip “a success,” Tarriela said.
A US warship, the USS Mobile, was spotted on the Philippine crews’ journey
out on Monday evening, ahead of the confrontation with Beijing, said
Tarriela. However, he said, the Philippines did not coordinate with the US
during the operation.
It also pointed to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, which it said
“extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or
aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China
Sea.”
“Without clarifying what ‘armed attack’ constitutes, this episode will keep
recurring since Beijing senses impunity,” Koh said.
Ray Powell, director of SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National
Security Innovation at Stanford University, said the onus is on Philippine
partners and allies, like the US, to take new actions to push back on China.
“Will the US, its allies, other members of the international community, will
they get together and say something more than finger-wagging has to
happen here?” Powell said.