China threatens more clashes after damaging Philippine vessel

China has threatened to take more “resolute” steps to constrain the Philippines’s access to a military outpost in the South China Sea despite the U.S. ally’s “strong protest” of a maritime maneuver that damaged a Philippine vessel.

“China’s continued interference with the Philippines’ routine and lawful activities in its own exclusive economic zone is unacceptable,” the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday. “It infringes upon the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction. The Philippines demands that Chinese vessels leave the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal and the Philippine exclusive economic zone immediately.”

Philippine officials issued that protest after a clash near a maritime military outpost at Ayungin, a disputed area of the South China Sea also known as the Second Thomas Shoal. A pair of Chinese Coast Guard vessels strafed a wooden Philippine vessel with water cannons on Saturday, as seen on dramatic footage released by the Philippines government, in order to thwart the delivery of supplies to a grounded cargo ship that Philippine forces are stationed in order to assert Manila’s rights in the area.

“This is just an ordinary rotation and resupply or provision operation but look at how the Chinese are reacting,” Philippine national security adviser Eduardo Ano said after the incident, per local press. “We will not be deterred. We will not be intimidated.”

The incident occurred just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Philippines to finalize plans for President Joe Biden to host Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. In Manila, Blinken emphasized that “any armed attacks on Filipino armed forces, on public vessels, on aircraft” could warrant American action under the terms of U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty.

“This is a ‘so what are you going to do about it” move because there’s been a lot of statements coming out of D.C. [about how] we’re going to defend our treaty ally,” the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Cleo Paskal, an expert on Indo-Pacific security issues, told the Washington Examiner. “What China will often do is do something that [says] ‘you’ll put out your press release, and we’ll try to push the ground reality. And now let’s see what you’re actually going to do about it.’ And then everybody’s strategic communities watch very carefully.”

China intends to prevent the Philippines from converting the grounded vessel into “a permanent outpost,” as the Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged Monday.

“China urges the Philippines to immediately stop infringing on China’s sovereignty and rights and stop the provocations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Monday. “If the Philippines does not change course, China will continue to take resolute steps to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

Blinken’s team condemned China’s action in a Saturday statement. “This incident marks only the latest in the PRC’s repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and disruption of supply lines to this long-standing outpost,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, noting that an international tribunal ruled in 2016 that China has no legitimate claim to the area. “The PRC’s actions are destabilizing to the region and show clear disregard for international law.”

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Chinese officials insist that the 2016 ruling “is illegal, null and void” and warned the Philippines not to press the matter.

“We urge the Philippines to immediately stop hyping up the bilateral maritime disputes … and refrain from any move that may complicate the situation at sea,” Lin said. “The Philippines needs to return to the right track of properly handling maritime disputes through negotiation and consultation as soon as possible and work with China to keep the South China Sea peaceful and stable.”