The Philippines will not send its navy to the South China Sea in response to recent frictions with China, the country’s President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said yesterday, claiming that such a move would be “provocative.”
Marcos made the statement after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) raised the idea of sending naval ships into the country’s waters, contingent on the president’s approval.
“We are not at war; we don’t need navy warships. All we are doing is resupplying our fishermen, protecting our territorial rights,” Marcos told reporters, according to a statement from his office. He said that deploying the Philippine Navy would be “seen as an escalation.”
“We don’t do that. The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tries to bring down the level of tension,” he said.
The PCG’s suggestion followed an incident on December 4 in which Chinese vessels side-swiped and fired a high-pressure water cannon at a boat from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources that was transporting supplies to Filipino fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal. The PCG said that its vessels also faced “blocking, shadowing, and dangerous maneuvers” from a vessel of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
This was reportedly the first time that the Chinese Navy has been deployed in the string of recent stand-offs with the Philippines, which stretch back to before the inauguration of Marcos in mid-2022. In that time, Beijing has steadily intensified its pressure against the Philippines in contested parts of the South China Sea. Until recently, the main focus of Chinese attention was Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, where the Philippines maintains an outpost in a grounded warship.
After the two sides reached a “provisional” agreement in July that ended a series of confrontations over Second Thomas Shoal, allowing the Philippines to resupply its marines on the vessel, China’s attention has shifted to Scarborough Shoal, a triangular series of reefs around 120 nautical miles (222 kilometers) west of Luzon, the northernmost Philippine island. Despite lying within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the feature has been under Chinese control since a protracted stand-off between the two countries in 2012.
China has also challenged Philippine control of Sabina Shoal, which lies around 140 kilometers northwest of the Philippine island of Palawan. December 4 also saw a separate clash at this shoal, in which Manila claims CCG vessels “blocked and conducted dangerous maneuvers” against two fisheries bureau boats, including ramming and sideswiping them.
The incident prompted the Philippines to file another diplomatic protest with China, which responded by accusing the Philippine vessels of responsibility for the encounter at Scarborough Shoal. “We warn the Philippines to immediately stop infringement, provocation and propaganda, otherwise it will be responsible for all consequences,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.