MANILA, Philippines | China and the Philippines traded accusations Monday after a Chinese J-16 fighter repeatedly maneuvered close to a Philippine military aircraft conducting a routine patrol near Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, in the South China Sea.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the encounter occurred on October 3 when a Philippine C-208 aircraft encountered two Chinese military aircraft near the disputed shoal. The AFP said one was identified as a J-16 fighter that repeatedly approached and maneuvered ahead of and around the Philippine aircraft, including positioning itself within the C-208’s wake. The maneuvers, the AFP said, created an aviation safety risk.
The Philippine aircraft nevertheless completed its maritime patrol and returned safely. AFP Public Affairs Office chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad described the incident as part of what the military considers a recurring pattern of unsafe and coercive behavior toward Philippine government vessels and aircraft operating in the West Philippine Sea.
China gave a sharply different account. The People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said the Philippine C-208 had “illegally intruded” into what Beijing calls the territorial airspace over Huangyan Dao, China’s name for Scarborough Shoal, without approval from the Chinese government.
Chinese military spokesman Senior Capt. Zhai Shichen said Chinese naval and air forces tracked and monitored the Philippine aircraft and issued warnings to expel it. Beijing accused Manila of violating Chinese sovereignty and urged the Philippines to stop what it called provocative activities.
The disagreement reflects a fundamental dispute over the legal status and sovereignty of Scarborough Shoal. The feature is claimed by both countries and lies about 200 kilometers from the Philippine coast, within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. China has maintained effective control of the shoal since a 2012 standoff with the Philippines.
The 2016 South China Sea arbitration brought by the Philippines against China addressed maritime entitlements and the legality of several Chinese actions, but it did not determine sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal. The tribunal nevertheless found that the shoal had historically been accessible to fishermen from several countries and ruled that China’s actions restricting access to traditional fishing grounds violated international law. China has rejected the arbitration ruling.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal state’s sovereignty extends to the airspace above its territorial sea, which may extend up to 12 nautical miles from its baselines. The separate concept of an exclusive economic zone extends much farther but gives a coastal state sovereign rights over resources rather than full sovereignty equivalent to that exercised over territorial waters and airspace.
The latest aerial confrontation came amid a broader escalation around disputed Philippine waters. On October 4, Philippine authorities also reported that Chinese vessels obstructed a Philippine law enforcement operation near Pag-asa Island involving the Coast Guard, Navy and police maritime personnel investigating suspected dynamite fishing.
The Scarborough Shoal dispute has been a major flashpoint since 2012, when a confrontation involving Philippine and Chinese vessels developed into a prolonged standoff. China subsequently established a continuing presence around the shoal, making it one of the most sensitive points in Manila-Beijing relations.
With both governments maintaining conflicting accounts of the October 3 encounter, the incident adds another potentially dangerous dimension to already tense maritime relations, where close encounters between aircraft and vessels increase the risk of miscalculation even when neither side intends to escalate the confrontation.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
