The Philippines decried China’s „acts of aggression“ just a month after the neighbors agreed to lower tensions in the South China Sea.
The chief of the Philippine armed forces on Saturday accused China of dangerous flight maneuvers near a contested part of the South China Sea as tensions between the U.S. ally and its powerful neighbor continue to run high.
Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said a pair of Chinese fighter jets fired flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force NC-212i medium cargo plane while it was on a „routine maritime patrol“ over Scarborough Shoal on Thursday morning.
The reef, known in Manila as Bajo de Masinloc and in Beijing as Huangyan Island is a rich fishing grounds within the exclusive economic zone accorded to the Philippines under international maritime law. Chinese forces seized effective control over the feature in 2012 and expelled local fishermen from its waters on multiple occasions.
In September 2023, the Philippines vowed to step up patrols in the area after its coast guard reportedly dismantled a floating barrier set up by China to block Philippine fishing boats. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has repeatedly vowed he won’t yield „one inch“ of Philippine territory.
Video footage shared with the Philippine Daily Inquirer shows one plane dropping the flares from a short distance as it passes the Philippine turboprop on the left.
