Philippine Outrage Swells at ‘Barbaric’ Chinese Coast Guard Sword Attack

A group of 17 Philippine business organizations issued a rare statement on Friday denouncing China’s attack on Filipino naval personnel in the South China Sea on Monday.

The group appealed for “unity towards a non-violent resolution that respects our rights as a peace-loving nation.”

“We deplore the continued harassment of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), the PCG (Philippine Coast Guard), and most of all, our people who are just trying to earn their livelihood,” the statement said.

The statement notably avoided calling China out by name, but there is no question China was the aggressor it was denouncing. Chinese Coast Guard ships violently intercepted three Philippine supply vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal on Monday, ramming the Philippine ships and tearing into their inflatable hulls with axes and swords.

The business groups praised Philippine soldiers for their “dedication and self-sacrifice in protecting our people, safeguarding our sovereignty and defending the integrity of our national territory.”

The statement called upon the Philippine government to upgrade the AFP and PCG into more “modern” and “self-reliant” fighting forces.

“Since we need peace and security in building a stronger and more progressive Philippines, we call for a whole-of-nation approach in addressing the current threats to national sovereignty and security,” the statement said.

Signatories included the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and the Makati Business Club (MBC). It is very uncommon for such groups to issue public statements on international affairs other than trade and commerce issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo on Thursday to discuss “escalatory” actions in the Spratly Islands by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The State Department said Blinken “emphasized that the PRC’s actions undermine regional peace and stability and underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defense Treaty.”

The State Department said China’s actions were a “dangerous and irresponsible” effort to impede a “lawful maritime operation in the South China Sea.”

The Philippine Star on Friday quoted several Philippine officials echoing the statement from business leaders by saying China crossed a line on Monday, and it was time to take action to protect Philippine personnel from further acts of piracy.

These officials generally wanted to avoid “escalation” by finding safer methods of supplying the Philippine outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal, which is what the Philippine ships were doing on Monday when Chinese vessels attacked them. They were, however, firm on maintaining Manila’s territorial claims in the region referred to by Filipinos as the West Philippine Sea.

“Ayungin is clearly within our exclusive economic zone. The humanitarian resupply mission to our troops in the BRP Sierra Madre is part of our duty to sustain our people, who are sacrificing by working there and guarding the Sierra Madre,” said Philippine Sen. Loren Legarda.

Ayungin is the Filipino name for the Second Thomas Shoal. BRP Sierra Madre is a rusting ship that was beached on the shoal in 1999 to create an impromptu outpost for Philippine troops.

“Any damage, any violation, in that area which is our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) must be dealt with through constructive dialogue. But at the same time, they must respect our sovereignty, especially if it is in the waters within our exclusive economic zone,” she said.

Legarda said China’s actions were “unfortunate and must be addressed accordingly,” but she urged the Philippine government to “avoid any violent acts” or “possible act of war.”

Retired Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio suggested replacing the Philippine troops stationed on the Sierra Madre with civilian personnel, so that China can be sued in international court on humanitarian grounds if it interfered with further supply missions.

Chinese state media continued to insist the Communist tyranny did nothing wrong when it wantonly attacked Philippine ships in Philippine territorial waters. Beijing’s claims to the area were long ago rejected by an international tribunal, but it has been trying to seize control of the entire South China Sea through increasing acts of force and diplomatic bullying.

On Thursday, China’s state-run Global Times claimed the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) was able to “recapture” a Chinese fishing net allegedly stolen by Filipinos near the Second Thomas Shoal, which China calls Ren’ai Reef.

“The Chinese fishing net was cut off by Filipinos and brought to the illegally grounded warship on May 16. Philippine personnel onboard the warship used the stolen net to capture fish in the lagoon of Ren’ai Jiao as their food supply,” the Global Times said. The “illegally grounded warship” would be the Sierra Madre, which China has been complaining about since the day the Filipinos beached it.

“The Philippines’ theft harmed the normal fishing activities of the Chinese fisherfolks, lead [sic] to tremendous loss and severely harmed the livelihoods of the Chinese fisherfolks,” the Global Times asserted, pegging the value of the allegedly stolen and damaged net at 10,000 yuan, which works out to about $1,370.

These cornpone references to “fisherfolk” are deeply disingenuous. Chinese “fishermen” in the South China Sea tend to be heavily armed members of its “maritime militia,” not friendly hobbits. China’s typical strategy is to swarm islands it covets with maritime militia boats, forcing out the local fishermen who traditionally worked in contested waters.

The Global Times published a belligerent editorial on Thursday insisting that China’s “law-enforcement maneuvers” were “necessary, professional, restrained, and beyond reproach,” as the Chinese Foreign Ministry put it.

“Analysts said the risky and irresponsible act conducted by the Philippines are [sic] quite unpopular among ASEAN member states, and that Manila should be aware of the danger of being used by the US as a pawn to disrupt the stability and peace of the region,” the Global Times howled.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Most of its members disagree with China’s expansive and illegal territorial claims over the South China Sea, but the tenor of the Global Times editorial suggested Beijing plans to bully them into silence.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., told an ASEAN summit in March that he intended to defend Philippine territorial sovereignty against Chinese aggression. He advised the other members to work together and do the same.

“We simply have no choice. We must defend the territory of the republic. That is a primordial duty of a leader. The territorial integrity of the Philippines cannot be threatened, and if threats are made, then we must defend against those threats,” he said in March.

The Global Times mentioned China’s “new procedures” allowing “law enforcement forces to take more decisive action to counter provocations,” which evidently includes ramming inflatable boats with steel-hulled patrol craft and attacking them with enough cutlery to outfit the entire cast of Game of Thrones.

China said on Wednesday that its belligerent new procedures would not affect Chinese interactions with Taiwanese ships, perhaps sensing that an incident like the one near the Second Thomas Shoal could escalate very quickly if Taiwan was the victim.

The Global Times, however, made a point of saying that U.S. protection would not save the Filipinos from CCG piracy. The Communist newspaper accused the United States of goading the Philippines into causing trouble in the South China Sea:

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the US is just playing the trick of “making a troublemaker into a victim,” as everyone can see crystal clear that it was Washington that stands behind all the risky provocations conducted by the Philippines, and when China takes very restrained actions to stop their irresponsible and dangerous behaviors that threaten China’s sovereignty and national security, they start to cry out and draw attention. 

The Global Times claimed the South China Sea had become “a sea of peace, friendship, and cooperation” under the tough-talking but far more pliable President Rodrigo Duterte and suggested the U.S. military pushed Duterte’s successor Marcos, Jr., into becoming more confrontational to further the American agenda of building military bases in the Philippines.

The Global Times concluded by advising the Philippines to become more like Vietnam, which also has territorial disputes with China but is “willing to work with the Chinese side to maintain peace and stability at sea.”