Chinese soldiers armed with axes and knives attack Filipino navy boats in South China Sea
According to Philippine officials, Chinese personnel attacked the boats to prevent Philippine Navy troops from delivering food and other supplies, including firearms, to Philippine troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, which Beijing claims as its own.
Chinese coast guard personnel aboard more than eight motorboats repeatedly rammed, boarded and damaged two Philippine navy inflatable boats with knives, hammers and machetes in a disputed coastal area of the South China Sea, triggering a new round of confrontation between the two countries.
According to Philippine officials, Chinese personnel attacked the boats to prevent Philippine Navy troops from delivering food and other supplies, including firearms, to Philippine troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, which Beijing claims as its own.
After arguments and repeated confrontations, Chinese coast guard personnel boarded Filipino navy vessels and seized eight M4 rifles, navigation equipment and other items, two Filipino security officials told The Associated Press.
They also clashed with several Philippine navy personnel, leaving several injured, one of whom lost his right thumb, security officials said.
Video posted by the Philippine military shows Chinese soldiers pointing knives at Philippine navy personnel and their ships surrounding two Philippine navy supply boats. Sirens are heard blaring as the two soldiers shout at each other. The Chinese personnel smash the Philippine boats with a stick and capture them with a bag and sticks.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief Gen. Romeo Broner Jr. compared the actions of the Chinese troops to “pirates” and demanded that they return rifles and equipment seized during the clash.
“We are demanding that China return our rifles and equipment and we are also demanding that they compensate us for the losses they have caused,” Broner Jr. said at a news conference in the Philippines’ western Palawan province. He presented a wounded naval officer with a medal as a symbol of his bravery.
“They illegally boarded our boats and seized our equipment. Now they have become like pirates by doing such acts,” he said.
Broner Jr. praised the resistance shown by the Philippine Navy personnel despite being outnumbered, saying they resisted and repelled the attacks of the Chinese personnel armed with knives and machetes with “bare hands.”
“The Chinese Coast Guard personnel had sharp weapons and our soldiers fought with bare hands. We were less in number and they had unexpected weapons, but our soldiers fought with all their might,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday.
He further said, “Our aim is also to prevent war.”
In a statement, the Philippine Foreign Ministry condemned “the illegal and aggressive actions of the Chinese authorities which resulted in injuries to personnel and damage to vessels”.
However, reacting to the incident, China blamed the Philippines for the clash and said Philippine naval troops “encroached” into the sea despite repeated warnings from the Chinese coast guard.
“This is the direct cause of the incident. The Chinese coast guard at the scene has taken professional law enforcement measures with restraint aimed at preventing illegal supply missions by Philippine ships, and no direct actions have been taken against Philippine personnel,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press briefing in Beijing.
On the other hand, the US, which has a controversial relationship with China, said it was obliged to protect its ally the Philippines.
The Second Thomas Shoal, also known as Ayungin Shoal, is a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea that China claims in full. Other countries, including Taiwan and Vietnam, also make territorial claims in this busy waterway.
The Philippine Navy maintains its presence on Second Thomas Shoal by deploying less than a dozen marine personnel aboard the 100-meter-long Philippine Navy Landing Craft ‘Sierra Madre’, a World War II-era ship that was intentionally landed on the atoll in 1999 in response to China’s reoccupation of Mischief Reef.
The Philippines claims the atoll as part of its continental shelf, while parts of the Spratly Islands, where Second Thomas Shoal is located, are claimed by China, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
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