China has accused the Philippines of “spreading false narratives” after a second military incident with foreign aircraft over the South China Sea in the last fortnight.
The Philippine coast guard said a Chinese navy helicopter flew ‘dangerously’ close – within three meters – to a government aircraft patrolling a disputed section of the South China Sea on Tuesday.
Journalists onboard the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic aircraft captured the moment a Chinese military helicopter flies ‘dangerously’ close over the South China Sea on Tuesday. (AP: Joeal Calupitan)
It comes after China last week similarly accused Australia of ‘spreading false narratives’ after a Chinese jet fired flares within 30 metres of an Australian military plane in the region.
Philippine officials said the Chinese helicopter attempted to force the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources plane out of what China claims is its airspace over the Scarborough Shoal.
The plane, which was carrying journalists who witnessed the tense 30-minute stand off, continued on with its low-altitude patrol around the area off the northwestern Philippines with the helicopter hovering close above it or flying to its left in cloudy weather.
At one point, the Filipino pilot warned the Chinese helicopter by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and endangering the lives of our crew and passengers”.
The Philippine government said it would file a formal diplomatic protest over the incident.
The Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries said in a statement that they remain “committed to asserting our sovereignty, sovereign rights and maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, despite the aggressive and escalatory actions of China.”
A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday. (AP: Joeal Calupitan)
China Southern Theater Command’s Tian Junli said the Philippine aircraft had “illegally intruded into Chinese airspace over Huangyan Island”, using the Chinese name for the shoal.
He said naval and air units were deployed “to track, monitor, warn, and expel the aircraft in accordance with the law and regulations”, adding that the “actions of the Philippine side seriously violated China’s sovereignty”.
Mr Tian said the Philippines “confused right and wrong and spread false narratives”.
The Scarborough Shoal – a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the South China Sea – has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.
Decade-long territorial stand-off
The encounter is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long territorial stand-off in one of the world’s busiest trade routes, which involves China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
A map of the South China Sea shows competing claims of China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. (ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)
Confrontations on the high seas have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the last two years at Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoal.
In 2017, the Philippines brought its disputes with China to international arbitration.
A 2016 decision by a United Nations-backed arbitration panel and invalidated China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
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China refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the outcome and continues to defy it.
The Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has resorted to a shame campaign – embedding Philippine and foreign journalists in its sea and air patrols in a bid to show Beijing’s increasingly assertive actions.
The Philippines has also been strengthening its security alliances with the United States, Japan, Australian, France, Canada, the European Union and other Western countries to shore up its external defence.
The United States says it’s obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
China has warned the US and its allies not to meddle in what it calls a purely Asian dispute.
ABC and wires
