China denies using force to retrieve rocket debris from Philippines navy boat
- Chinese ships have blocked the Philippines’ supply boats in the South China Sea before, but had not seized objects in the possession of its military
- The Philippine military said in a statement it practices ‘maximum tolerance in such a situation’, adding it was ‘not a matter of life and death’
The Chinese vessel twice blocked the Philippine naval boat on Sunday before seizing the debris it was towing off Philippine-occupied Thitu Island, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said on Monday. No one was injured in the incident, he said.
China denied there was a forcible seizure and said the debris, which it confirmed was from a Chinese rocket launch, was handed over by Philippine forces after a “friendly consultation.”
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing the object was debris from a rocket’s payload fairing – casing that protects the nose-cone of a spacecraft – launched by China.
“People from the Philippines side salvaged and towed the floating object first. After both sides had a friendly negotiation at the scene, the Philippines handed over the floating object to us,” Mao said.
“It was not a situation in which we waylaid and grabbed the object,” Mao said.