Chinese Water Cannon Breaks the Bridge Windows of a Philippine Supply Boat

The Filipino armed forces have published additional footage of yesterday’s clash between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the Spratly Islands, including the capture of a Chinese water cannon shattering the bridge windows of a Filipino supply boat. As reported by GMA 7, Alberto Carlos, the regional military commander, Vice Adm., suffered minor hand injuries due to the strike.

WATCH: At least four Philippine sailors are injured after China’s Coast Guard fired water cannons, shattering the windows of the sailors’ supply boat as it made its way toward the Second Thomas Shoal.

Source: Armed Forces of the Philippines pic.twitter.com/idOLkliTXi

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On Wednesday, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Philippine President, said that the China Coast Guard’s actions resulted in minor injuries and vessel damage but didn’t rise to the level at which Manila would seek military aid from the US.
He said he does not think it’s a time/reason to invoke the U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. However, they continue viewing with great alarm these ongoing dangerous manoeuvres and actions being carried out against seamen and coast guard, as Marcos mentioned in an interview on a trip to Australia.

The United States State Department has emphasized that the treaty includes armed attacks at sea. A State Department spokesperson stated on Tuesday that the US has reaffirmed that Article IV of the US-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty of 1951 extends to violent assaults on Philippine armed forces, aircraft, or public vessels, including those belonging to the Coast Guard, at any point in the South China Sea.

The run-in is located in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and China’s mainland is approximately 700 nm north. China argues that a significant portion of the South China Sea is Chinese territory, notwithstanding the UNCLOS’ 200-mile max boundary.

According to China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, the Philippines is responsible for the event. The arbitral ruling in the South China Sea arbitration, which the Philippines and some other nations use as a benchmark, violates international law, especially UNCLOS, and is unlawful, null, and void.

Reference: The Sun

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Source: Maritime Shipping News