China urges Philippines to stop ''infringement'' and ''provocations''
China's Foreign Ministry urges the Philippines to stop "infringement" and "provocations" after its military multirole fighter aircraft intercepted a Philippine Air Force patrol plane near the airspace of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao) last August 8.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday that the entry of a Philippine Air Force plane in the area is "clearly a deliberate provocation."
"Considering that it sent the military aircraft to Huangyan Dao’s airspace during the joint patrol with the US, Australia and Canada in the South China Sea, what the Philippines did with its aircraft was clearly a deliberate provocation," he said.
"China urges the Philippines to stop the infringement activities and provocations at Huangyan Dao at once. Such wanton acts must stop. China will continue to act resolutely in accordance with the law to firmly safeguard our nation’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," he added.
As he reiterated that "Huangyan Dao has always been China’s territory and that China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao and its adjacent airspace and waters'', Lin said Chinese authorities took lawful measures against the Philippine military aircraft that intruded into the adjacent airspace of Huangyan Dao twice on August 7 and 8.
"Philippine military aircraft twice intruded into the adjacent airspace of Huangyan Dao, which gravely infringed upon China’s sovereignty and violated international law and the basic norms governing international relations," he said.
"The Chinese military took necessary and lawful measures in response, and their maneuvers at the scene were professional and consistent with Chinese laws and international law," he added.
In an interview on the same day, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea said that the Philippine Air Force aircraft was conducting a regular patrol in the Philippine air space when it was intercepted by Chinese multirole fighters whose presence in the area was illegal and unauthorized.
"What happened is that a regular flight of the Philippine Air Force was the subject of unsafe actions by the (People's Liberation Army) PLA Air Force. That is where we have to focus. their presence in the first place within the national airspace of the Philippines above or 3.5 nautical miles from Bajo de Masinloc is unauthorized, it is illegal," he said.
He said that it is the first time that a Chinese military aircraft dropped flares in the path of Philippine aircraft that regularly patrolled the West Philippine Sea.
"It's the first that an aircraft (of Chinese military) has dropped flares on an aircraft of the Philippine Air Force but there have been previous instances wherein the Philippine Air Force flights over the West Philippine Sea have experienced flares coming from the bases of the PLA in the West Philippine Sea. but from an aircraft, it is the first time," he said. Robina Asido/DMS
