The Philippines wants China to take action after it says a Chinese fishing vessel hit an anchored Philippine boat in the disputed South China Sea and abandoned the nearly two dozen men on board as it sank.
A spokesman for the Philippine armed forces said Thursday that the Chinese vessel left the scene immediately after the collision, which occurred Sunday, and offered no help to the Filipinos in danger. Its behavior suggested the Chinese vessel had struck the Philippine fishing boat intentionally, spokesman Lt. Col. Stephen Penetrante said.
The usual response in the event of an accident would be for the Chinese crew to rescue the Filipinos, Mr. Penetrante said. A Vietnamese vessel that was nearby at the time of the collision helped bring the Filipinos to safety.
The Philippine government, which is seeking close ties with Beijing, didn’t comment on whether the collision was deliberate or accidental. But it said in a statement that the abandoning of the fishermen by the Chinese was uncivilized, outrageous and a crystal-clear violation of maritime protocols.
The territorial conflict between the two countries in the South China Sea “cannot be an impediment for the offending vessel to lend a hand to the distressed crew,” the statement said.
The Philippines has asked China to probe the incident and “impose the proper sanctions” against the Chinese crew.
“The actions of the Chinese indicate that they intended to do harm to the Filipino fishermen. It is aimed to send a message to the rest to keep off.”—Gary Alejano, an opposition politician in the Philippines
China’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
China’s territorial and maritime claims, which cover nearly the whole of the South China Sea, overlap with those of the Philippines and other countries. The alleged collision took place near a particularly sensitive area of seabed called Reed Bank, which lies 85 nautical miles off the Philippine coast.
Beijing has long blocked the Philippines from drilling for oil and natural gas there. An international tribunal held in 2016 that the Philippines has exclusive rights over Reed Bank, but China has refused to comply with the decision.
Chinese fishing boats featured in another protest by Manila in April. The Philippines at the time said dozens of Chinese boats functioning as part of a maritime militia were swarming an island it controlled in the South China Sea. The number of boats has since fallen, but not all of them have left, Philippine officials say.
The sinking on Sunday highlighted the risk of conflict arising from Chinese boats swarming the waters near the Philippines, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a tweet late Wednesday. One day, he said, their activities might accidentally sink a Filipino military vessel. China has said Chinese fishing boats have a right to be there.
The U.S. military last year complained that a Chinese warship harassed a U.S. Navy vessel as it sailed through the South China Sea. China responded that it had warned the U.S. guided-missile destroyer to leave, and accused the U.S. of threatening China’s security by repeatedly sending warships into waters around islands and reefs in the area.
China’s growing fleet of navy, coast guard and militia vessels maintains a strong and persistent presence in the South China Sea to assert Beijing’s claims. Countries such as the Philippines say they can’t match China’s capabilities and want to avoid a confrontation or encounter that could escalate into armed hostilities.
Chinese fishing vessels played a role in a 2012 standoff that resulted in China seizing a fisheries-rich feature, Scarborough Shoal, from the Philippines. Filipinos are permitted to fish there but routinely complain of harassment by Chinese law-enforcement and fishing vessels.
Critics say China is trying to establish greater control in the region through coercion and intimidation, an allegation that Beijing denies.
“The actions of the Chinese indicate that they intended to do harm to the Filipino fishermen,” Gary Alejano, an opposition politician in the Philippines and advocate for a stronger response to China’s maritime activities, said of the Sunday incident. “It is aimed to send a message to the rest to keep off.”
Global News 
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