 "Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. File Image/Reuters")
Days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the Philippines “cannot stay out” if conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait, tensions in the region intensified after a Chinese coast guard vessel targeted a Philippine ship with a water cannon near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Philippine vessels and fishermen encountered “hazardous maneuvers and blocking actions” from Chinese vessels in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal early Monday, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a post on X.
A Philippine ship evaded a water cannon hit, he added.
According to a _Bloomber_g report, Beijing has previously employed water cannons against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea as part of its efforts to assert sweeping territorial claims in the resource-rich waterway. Most recently, in June, the Chinese coast guard used water cannons to drive away a Philippine ship from contested waters.
There was no immediate response from the Chinese Embassy in Manila regarding the latest incident, added the report.
After President Marcos Jr.’s statement, had China warned the Philippines to “refrain from playing with fire.”
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost last week, Marcos delivered candid remarks on the Taiwan issue during his state visit to India.
“To be very practical about it, if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location,” Marcos had said, underlining that Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is only a 40-minute flight from the northern Philippines.
He added that a conflict would “immediately” become a humanitarian issue.
“If there is an all-out war, we will be drawn into it. We will have to go into Taiwan and bring our people home,” he said, referring the large Filipino community living in Taiwan.
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More ShortsMarcos emphasised that the Philippines was not preparing for war but reacting to “the challenges we are facing.”
On Monday, he again repeated his statement during a briefing, saying, “Despite our fervent wish to avoid any confrontation with anybody anywhere, war over Taiwan will drag the Philippines kicking and screaming into the conflict.”
Tarriela said that a collision also took place between a China Coast Guard vessel and a People’s Liberation Army Navy ship during a high-speed pursuit of a Philippine boat.
The incident caused “substantial damage” to the Chinese coast guard vessel.
Tarriela added that the Philippine side offered assistance for any injured Chinese crew members.
In response to the rising tensions, President Marcos Jr. reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
“We will continue to defend our territory. We will continue to exercise our sovereign rights and despite any opposition from anyone,” Bloomberg quoted Marcos as saying.
The Philippines, a longstanding US ally, continues to challenge Beijing’s expansive maritime claims, which were invalidated by a 2016 international tribunal ruling — one that China has consistently rejected.
With inputs from agencies