A Philippine lawmaker revealed this week an alleged threat the country’s top military official received from China’s ambassador as tensions soared over differences in the South China Sea.
Huang Xilian, the Chinese envoy, was “very hostile” during a recent meeting with Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., the chief of staff of the Philippines armed forces, according to Philippine Sen. JV Ejercito.
“[Brawner] told me on one occasion, Huang confronted him and even aggressively pointed at him while saying: ‘Don’t provoke us,’” Ejercito recounted to Tagalog-language news channel One PH on Tuesday.
The revelation came in the days after the Philippines accused China’s coast guard vessels of harassing, blocking and firing water cannons at Philippine supply boats near Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal on Saturday and Manila-held Second Thomas Shoal on Sunday.
The territories, claimed by both governments, lie in the Spratly Islands, whose ownership is contested by half a dozen countries in the region. The archipelago, where at least three of China’s artificial islands have been fully militarized, is located within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, giving it a sovereign right over its underwater resources.
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“[Brawner] told me on one occasion, Huang confronted him and even aggressively pointed at him while saying: ‘Don’t provoke us,’” Ejercito recounted to Tagalog-language news channel One PH on Tuesday.
The archipelago, where at least three of China’s artificial islands have been fully militarized, is located within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, giving it a sovereign right over its underwater resources.
On Wednesday, the lawmaker told CNN Philippines: “I reiterate not to cut ties but for him to be replaced with someone more diplomatic so that we can still talk and have communication lines open.”
China’s envoy was summoned to Manila’s foreign affairs department for a formal rebuke earlier on Monday, when he also delivered his own protest on behalf of Beijing, the Chinese Embassy said.
The consecutive days of clashes over the weekend happened against a backdrop of other “gray zone” maneuvers by China’s maritime militia fleet, which was seen massed around Whitsun Reef, claimed by the Philippines, this week, according to satellite photographs.
Additionally, a civilian-led “Christmas convoy,” which had planned to deliver provisions to Philippine front-line troops and fishermen in the Spratlys, was forced to turn back on Sunday after “constant shadowing” by China’s coast guard and navy, its organizer said.
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