ASIATODAY. ID, JAKARTA – The Philippine armed forces’ chief of staff accused Chinese warplanes on Saturday of maneuvering dangerously when flying by a Philippine jet patrolling the South China Sea earlier this week.
“On 8 August 2024, a Philippine Air Force (PAF) NC-212i aircraft was conducting a routine maritime patrol over Bajo de Masinloc when two aircraft from the PLAAF executed a dangerous maneuver at around 9:00AM [01:00 GMT] and dropped flares in the path of our NC-212i. The incident posed a threat to Philippine Air Force aircraft and its crew,” Romeo Brawner Jr. said in a statement.
The incident “interfered with lawful flight operations” in airspace within Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction, and “contravened international law” and regulations governing safety of aviation. The crew of the NC-212i safely returned to Clark Air Base.
Chinese army’s Southern Theater Command defended the move and accused the Philippine jet of invading Chinese airspace.
“On August 8, an NC-212 aircraft of the Philippine Air Force, despite repeated warnings from China, illegally invaded the airspace of the Huangyan Islands [Scarborough Shoal] in the South China Sea, preventing the holding of events within China’s regular exercises,” the statement said.
China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands of Huangyan Island and the adjacent waters, the statement added.
The territorial affiliation of a number of islands and reefs in the South China Sea has been the subject of disputes between China, the Philippines and several other Asia-Pacific countries for decades.
Significant oil and gas reserves have been discovered on the continental shelf of those islands, including the Paracel Islands, Thitu Island, Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands, with the Whitson Reef being part.
In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China had no grounds for territorial claims in the South China Sea. The court ruled that the islands were not a disputed territory and did not constitute an exclusive economic zone, but Beijing refused to accept the ruling. (Sputnik/AT Network)
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