Philippine Military Commander Is In A Ship That Was Hit By Chinese Coast Guard, Manila: Serious Escalation

China's coast guard ship fired water cannons at the Philippine ship. (Twitter/@jaytaryela)

JAKARTA - The Philippines on Monday called the actions of Chinese ships against their ships that were carrying out supply missions in the South China Sea on the weekend a serious escalation, in which Manila's top military official was on one of the ships.

Manila accused China's coast guard and maritime militias of repeatedly firing water cannons at their supply ships, causing "serious engine damage" to one of the ships and "deliberately" crashing into another.

Later, Philippine Military Commander General Romeo Brawner said he was on a ship sprayed with water cannon and hit.

"This is a serious escalation carried out by the agents of the People's Republic of China," said Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for the National Security Council at a press conference where officials showed pictures and videos of water cannons and collisions.

Meanwhile, General Brawner told Philippine radio station DZBB that he was not injured as a result of the incident. He did not believe that China knew he was on the ship.

It is known that Philippine ships are trying to supply military personnel stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre warship which ran aground in 1999 for use as a base.

In this regard, the Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest and summoned the Chinese Ambassador for their "aggressive" actions in the South China Sea, which foreign ministry officials say constitute a "threat to peace, order and security".

On the other hand, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday it had filed a serious statement and strongly protested against the Philippines over what it said was a clash on Sunday.

Philippine ships "improved warnings of Chinese coast guard and insisted on rushing to" waters near Second Thomas Shoal, ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a press conference, adding China's actions were "professional, reasonable and legal".

Mao said responsibility for the : repeated emergency situation "in disputed shallow waters lies with the Philippines, which rejects to withdraw illegally stranded warships and seeks to strengthen them to reach permanent occupation".

China urges the Philippines to stop "Marine violations and provocations" and stop "baseless attacks and defamation" against China, he said.

This is not the first time China has used water cannons on Philippine ships on supply missions in the South China Sea. In August, the Philippines postponed a two-week resupply mission after their ships were sprayed.

Maritime confrontations between the Philippines and China at the weekend came less than a month after leaders of the two countries met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco, United States last month, formulating future steps in the South China Sea.

"There was a dissonance between what was said and promised what happened in the waters," Philippine Foreign Ministry spokesman Teresita Daza said in a briefing on Monday.

It is known, the Bamboo Curtain Country claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, referring to the line on its map that cuts the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 ruled that the line on the Chinese map had no legal basis. It was rejected by Beijing.