he Philippines and China on Friday blamed each other for the near-collision of two of

their coast guard ships near Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal a day after President
Marcos held talks with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Manila said a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship with bow number 5201 used “dangerous
maneuvers” to block the much smaller 44-meter BRP Malapascua of the Philippine
Coast Guard (PCG), which was sailing toward Ayungin, where the derelict Philippine
Navy ship BRP Sierra Madre serves as one of the country’s outposts in the West
Philippine Sea (WPS).
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Teresita Daza, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), on Friday
said a report by the PCG was being studied and Manila would take “appropriate
diplomatic action” if the CCG was found to have taken an “illegal action” in
Philippine waters.
‘Provocative action’
In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the PCG vessel
was responsible for the near-collision.
“It was a premeditated and provocative action for the Philippine vessel to barge into
the waters of Ren’ai Jiao (Ayungin Shoal) with journalists on board. The aim was to
deliberately find fault and take the opportunity to hype up the incident,” Mao said
during a regular press briefing on Friday.
She said that the Chinese coast guard ship “safeguarded China’s territorial sovereignty
and maritime order” and took measures to avoid a collision.
Daza shot back, saying: “Routine patrols in our own waters can neither be
premeditated nor provocative.”
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“It is a legal right that we exercised and will continue to exercise,” she said. “We
again call on China to respect the Philippines’ rights over the West Philippine Sea, as
provided by Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), and refrain
from actions that may cause an untoward incident.”
After his meeting with Qin a day before the Ayungin incident, Mr. Marcos said he had
a “very useful and very, very productive” talk with China’s foreign minister and they
were able to “iron things out.” The two countries have long-running disputes in the
South China Sea and China has opposed the presence of US forces in Philippine
military bases close to Taiwan.
The two foreign ministries had set up a hotline early this year to prevent an escalation
of any incident in the South China Sea where Beijing had laid claim to nearly the
entire waterway, including the West Philippine Sea, waters within the country’s 370-
kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
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Daza said the Chinese side called the DFA at 5:56 on Sunday afternoon, following the
near-collision, which happened around 10 a.m., according to the time stamps on
pictures released by the PCG.

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