(Eagle News)–President Bongbong Marcos on Wednesday, March 6, said the Philippines will protest the recent provocations by China in Ayungin Shoal.
“We continue to view with great alarm these continuing dangerous maneuvers and dangerous actions that are being done against our seamen, our Coast Guard. And this time, they damaged a cargo ship and caused some injury to some of our seamen and I think that we cannot view this any way but in the most serious way,” President Marcos said to the media in Melbourne prior to his departure for the Philippines.
The President participated in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Australia Special Summit in Australia.
He said as such, “we will make our objections known and hope that we can continue to communicate to find the way so that such actions are no longer seen in the West Philippine Sea.”
Asked for his reaction to the reported sightings of Chinese research vessels in the Benham Rise, the President said it is a clear intrusion into Philippine maritime territory and “of great concern.”
He said the presence of Chinese ships in the area was “absolutely unnecessary because if it is truly a research vessel, both sides could have come to a simple agreement for those research vessels to ply Philippine waters and conduct such research.”
“However, there is a suspicion that they are not only research vessels so, again, this is a bit of an escalation of the tension that is present in the West Philippines Sea,” he added.
Earlier, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea accused the Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime militia vessels of attempting to “illegally impede or obstruct” a routine resupply at Ayungin Shoal on different occasions on March 5.
The task force said the “dangerous maneuvers and dangerous actions” led to collisions and damage to Philippine vessels, as well as injuries to four Filipino seamen.
“The Philippines will not be deterred from exercising our legal rights over our maritime zones, including Ayungin Shoal, which forms part of our Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf,” the task force said.
“We demand that China demonstrate that it is a responsible and trustworthy member of the international community,” it added.