The Embassy of USA in Philippines accused China arrest “provocative” and “dangerous” behaviorafter the Philippine Coast Guard denounced the use of a “military” laser from a Chinese patrol boat against one of their ships in the south china seascene of territorial disputes.
“Chinese attitude directly threatens regional peace and stabilityinfringes the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea (…) and undermines the rules-based international order,” the US Embassy in the Philippines published in a statement on Tuesday.
Hours earlier, the US State Department in Washington issued a message of support for Manila along the same lines.
The incident, which occurred on February 6, was reported Monday by the Philippine Coast Guard, which accused a Chinese coastal patrol of escalating its harassment methods using for the first time a blinding laser, “probably for military use”, against one of its ships near Ayungin Atoll in the South China Sea.
the atoll ayungin – which the Philippines occupies – is located less than 200 miles (about 322 kilometers) from the west coast of Palawansouthwest of the archipelago and within the exclusive economic area of the Philippines.
“The Philippines has the right to carry out legitimate activities in its exclusive economic zone (…) China does not have the power or right to circulate around Ayungin Atoll or any part of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines”, emphasized today the spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Teresita Daza.
Daza’s reaction follows a comment from the Chinese Foreign Ministry the day before, stating that its coast guard “operated professionally and with restraint” when a Philippine vessel entered “without permission” in the waters of the Ren’ai reef (as China refers to to Ayungin Atoll), over which Beijing asserts its sovereignty.
This new episode comes at a particularly delicate moment, a week after the Philippines and the US signed an agreement that guarantees the North American country access for its troops to four new military bases in Philippine “strategic” areas, which China considered “aggravating tensions in Asia.”
china and philippines they maintain a conflict for the sovereignty of several islands and atolls in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely for “historical reasons”Part of those territories are also disputed with Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.
Meanwhile, the United States seeks to counteract Beijing’s moves in key waters for world trade and rich in natural resources, amid the struggle that both countries maintain to increase their influence in the Pacific.
(With information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com