By Anadolu Agency
November 21, 2022 4:32 amISTANBUL
A maritime “encounter” was reported in the South China Sea between patrolling parties of China and the Philippines, as US Vice President Kamala Harris landed in Manila for a three-day trip on Sunday.
Locals around Philippine-occupied Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea were jolted by what appeared sounds from suspected blasts and later China Coast Guard (CCG) “forcibly” took away the suspected rocket debris from Filipino sailors who had towed it to their boat and were moving towards their coast.
However, the Chinese blocked the way and cut the towing cable, and took away the debris, Philippines Western Command Chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said, according to the Filipino daily Inquirer.
The incidents in the widely contested South China Sea come as Harris landed in Manila on Sunday evening for a three-day trip to “reaffirm” Washington’s “defense commitments” under the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines and US “support for the 2016 arbitral ruling that rejected China’s expansive maritime claims.”
She met her counterpart Sara Duterte on Monday before a courtesy call on Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Manila is Washington’s oldest ally in the region.
Mid-day Sunday, local police on Pag-asa island said people heard “repetitive sounds believed to come from artillery guns/weapons from Chinese-held Zamora (Subi) Reef.”
The reef is one of the biggest seven man-made islands built by Beijing in the Spratly Islands.
Filipino officials have, however, refused to acknowledge whether the sound of blasts was of artillery. They are still verifying the nature of the blasts.
“The blasts were not here, but we felt the jolt,” one of around 100 residents of Pag-asa told the daily.
The Filipino sailors returned home, without the debris, unharmed.
Harris is expected to board a Philippine Coast Guard ship in the West Philippine Sea besides meeting locals in Puerto Princesa City in western Palawan province on Tuesday to receive a briefing on maritime security operations.
China claims most of the sea as its own, but the US – which Beijing accuses of “provocations” – and surrounding countries, including the Philippines, disagree.
Washington and its allies regularly deploy their warships and air force in the region under the notion of “freedom of navigation.”
The Philippines won a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016, invalidating China’s claims over the sea.
Marcos, Harris hail ‘strong’ ties
Amid “global headwinds,” a statement from Manila read, Marcos and Harris on Monday hailed the “strong” and “enduring” ties between the Philippines and the US during their meeting in the presidential office, known as Malacanang.
Amid the “upheavals that we are seeing,” Marcos told the visiting US vice president: “The partnership between the Philippines and its longstanding ally becomes even more important.”
“The situation is rapidly changing. We must evolve to be properly responsive to that situation, so that is why it is very important that we continue to progress, that we continue to strengthen as we redefine those relationships,” Marcos pointed out.
“I do not see a future for Philippines that does not include the US,” he said.
Calling the Philippines-US relationship a “long and enduring one,” Harris said: “The basis of our relationship is multifaceted. Our relationship is based on a commitment to the economic prosperity of the region and our respective nations.”
Meanwhile, a regional network of research NGOs in Asia has warned “of greater escalation of human rights abuses” in the Philippines amid the visit of Harris.
“The US is currently preparing to bring gifts of bombs and arms worth 100 million dollars. Kamala’s (Harris) visit is neither of peace nor benefit to the Filipino people and we should be alarmed,” said Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) in a statement.
“This calculated visit is not only a diplomatic move towards greater US-PH relations but a direct rehabilitation of the autocratic Marcos government as US lackey,” APRN alleged.
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