The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.indicated that the Philippine Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to the country to protest the water cannon attack on the Coast Guard.
“As usual, our Foreign Minister (Enrique Manalo) has addressed the ambassador huang (Xilian) and has delivered another verbal note, along with photos and videos of what happened,” Marcos declared, as reported by the newspaper. ‘Inquirer’.
The president, he said, is waiting to see “what will be the response (from Beijing),” he said that he will hold a meeting to assess how to respond to the recent incident with China.
“We continue to assert our sovereignty. We continue to assert our territorial rights facing all these challenges, and in accordance with International Law, especially with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”, he assured.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) this weekend condemned the “dangerous maneuvers” and “the illegal use of water cannons” by their Chinese counterparts against their ships, which were escorting indigenous ships this Saturday. “These ships were delivering food, water and fuel,” they added.
“Such actions by the Chinese Coast Guard not only they ignore the safety of the crew of the PCG and the supply ships, but also violate International Law”, reads a statement in which they ask the Chinese side to “limit its forces, respect the sovereign rights of the Philippines in its exclusive economic zone (… ), refrain from impeding the freedom of navigation and take appropriate measures against the persons involved in this illegal incident.”
After the incident, the US government recorded its support for its “Filipino allies following dangerous actions by the Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia to obstruct a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.”
These actions were described as “reckless” by the State Department spokesman, Matthew Millerwho added that they represent a direct threat to peace and security in the region and that “are incompatible with international law.”
The US authorities also consider that China is hindering “unjustifiably” lawful Philippine maritime operations by preventing necessary supplies from reaching Philippine service members stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, an atalon in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea where the Philippine Navy has a military contingent of just a dozen soldiers aboard a US ship that was intentionally beached in 1999 to bolster Philippine territorial claims.
(With information from Europa Press)
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Source-www.infobae.com