Recently, the coast guards of China and the Philippines issued conflicting interpretations of a maritime conflict around a competed shoal in the South China Sea. The development is a fresh row in a longstanding confrontation between the two neighbours. The occurrence follows a diplomatic dispute in November after China outlined baseline “territorial waters” around the premium fishing patch of the Scarborough Shoal and offered nautical charts to the United Nations putting out its claim.

People’s Republic China’s Coast Guard stated four Philippine ships had attempted to enter its territorial waters near the Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing claims as Huangyan Island. Philippine ships had “dangerously closed” the Coast Guard’s “normal law enforcement patrol vessels,” provoking them to “exercise control” over their peers, Liu Dejun, a Coast Guard spokesperson, stated in a statement. 

Liu added that one of the Philippine ships “ignored” reiterated warnings, with activities that “seriously threatened” the security of a Chinese coast guard ship.

“We warn the Philippines to stop infringement, provocation and propaganda immediately, otherwise it will be responsible for all consequences.” 

On the other hand, the Philippine coast guard expressed that the Chinese navy and coast guard ships had taken “aggressive actions” against a regular patrol by it and the fisheries bureau.

A Chinese Coast Guard vessel released a water cannon and sideswiped a Philippine coast guard vessel. In contrast, Philippine vessels confronted “blocking, shadowing, and difficult manoeuvres” from Chinese Navy and Coast Guard ships, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson stated.

Both nations have sparred at sea this past year, as Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea, which has outraged neighbouring countries that differ in some boundaries they say slash into their exclusive economic zones.

Moreover, China also submitted to the United Nations nautical graphs showing its territorial claims to the waters near the Scarborough Shoal. The proposal was “a legitimate activity to support territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” as a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, it stated in a statement. Jonathan Malaya, a representative for the Philippine National Security Council, stated,

“It looks like an underpinning of China’s baseless assertion over Bajo de Masinloc following their submission of their alleged baselines.”

Furthermore, Manila and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have spent years negotiating a code of conduct with China for the strategic waterway, with some countries in the bloc demanding that it be based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.