What did the Philippines say?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that his foreign minister summoned Ambassador Huang “and gave him a note verbale including pictures, video about what happened and we are awaiting their reply.”
“The position of China, of course, is they say ‘this is ours so we are defending it’ and we, for our part, are saying ‘no, we own it so we are defending it’. So, that becomes a grey area that we are discussing,” Marcos told reporters.
The Filipino boat in the incident was delivering supplies and a new batch of troops to the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, about 200 kilometers from the Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass of Hainan island.
Manila has long complained that China’s coast guard and navy vessels block or shadow its ships in the contested waters. However, Saturday’s confrontation was the first time since November 2021 that water cannon was used against the resupply mission to that shoal.
What is Marcos’ approach toward China?
The Philippine former president, Rodrigo Duterte, had sought closer ties with China during his tenure from 2016 to 2022, while moving away from the US.
Duterte was also reluctant to criticise China, despite the history of disputes over the South China Sea.
