Cheyenne Suarez

A Philippine security official said the government was "alarmed" by China's use of its People's Liberation Army Navy in a fresh confrontation in the West Philippine Sea, adding that Manila "reserves the right" to deploy a similar warship.

Article (news)

PH 'reserves right' to deploy military ships after China's use of PLA Navy in latest WPS tensions

Rowegie Abanto

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — A Philippine security official on Thursday said the government was &quot;alarmed&quot; by China&#x27;s use of its People&#x27;s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in a fresh confrontation in the West Philippine Sea, adding that Manila &quot;reserves the right&quot; to deploy a similar warship in the future.</p><p>Philippine government civilian vessels conducting support patrol for fishermen near Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday encountered &quot;aggressive actions&quot; from at least five Chinese ships, with one of them firing water cannon on one of the Philippine vessels.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/12/4/ph-navy-chief-urges-more-assets-in-west-philippine-sea-1637">PH Navy chief urges more assets in West Philippine Sea</a></div><p>Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Panatag and Scarborough Shoal, is located off Masinloc, Zambales, within the Philippines&#x27; exclusive economic zone.</p><p>Beijing also used, for the first time, two PLA Navy ships that blocked and conducted dangerous maneuvers and shadowing against Manila&#x27;s vessels. </p><p>China&#x27;s coast guard said that Philippine coast guard ships came &quot;dangerously close&quot; to its own. &quot;China exercised control over them in accordance with the law,&quot; a spokesman said.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uPltZB28ZBw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;STEEP ESCALATION&#x27;</strong></div><p>Speaking on ANC, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said they considered this move as a &quot;provocation&quot; and &quot;steep escalation&quot; by China.</p><p>Malaya noted that PLA Navy ships in the past had a presence in the West Philippine Sea &quot;but they were just on the horizon, they would not do dangerous maneuvers against our Philippine vessels.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We are alarmed by this development, and as I said, we reserve our right to deploy our Philippine Navy ships as well,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It might be considered cowardice on the part of Beijing if we do not do anything.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/12/4/china-vessel-blasts-water-cannon-at-ph-ship-1025">China vessel blasts water cannon at Philippine ship in latest aggression</a></div><p>The Philippine Navy is the warfare service arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cMWsODNsjQg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;UNFAIR&#x27;</strong></div><p>Malaya explained that Manila has always regarded operations in the West Philippine Sea as civilian in nature and has never deployed a Philippine Navy ship.</p><p>He described it as &quot;unfair&quot; when China deployed its PLA Navy ships, saying that it is &quot;unequal for a civilian ship to face a warship of the People’s Republic of China.&quot;</p><p>Despite the recent confrontation, Malaya said there have been &quot;some good spots&quot; in the relationship between the Philippines and China.</p><p>&quot;In the security sphere, we have these tensions, but there has been a significant improvement in relation to Ayungin&quot; Shoal, where Manila&#x27;s lone military outpost, BRP Sierra Madre, in the West Philippine Sea is located.</p><p>&quot;Our resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre have been going smoothly and both sides are respecting the provisional understanding,&quot; he said.</p><p>The Philippines and China this year<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/21/ph-has-agreed-with-china-on-arrangement-for-resupplying-troops-on-ayungin-shoal-1839"> agreed on an &quot;arrangement&quot; for resupplying Filipino troops stationed on Ayungin,</a> after a series of escalating confrontations in the waterway.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VzxozLQ8m5Y?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>A Philippine security official said the government was "alarmed" by China's use of its People's Liberation Army Navy in a fresh confrontation in the West Philippine Sea, adding that Manila "reserves the right" to deploy a similar warship.</p>