Philippines launches strategy of publicising Chinese actions in South China Sea

The Philippine coastguard has launched a strategy of publicising aggressive actions by China in the disputed South China Sea, which has countered Chinese propaganda and sparked international condemnation that has put Beijing under the spotlight, a Philippine official said on Wednesday.

Manila’s coastguard has intensified patrols in the disputed waters and taken extra efforts to document and publicise assertive Chinese behaviour in the strategic waterway, including a February 6 incident in which a Chinese coastguard ship aimed a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some crew members on a Philippine patrol boat off a disputed reef.

The coastguard protested and released a video of the incident, which sparked alarm in the Philippines, the United States and some other Western countries. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr summoned China’s ambassador to Manila and later said the Philippine military has shifted its focus from fighting Muslim and communist insurgents and other internal threats to external defence amid long-seething South China Sea territorial disputes.

“I’d like to emphasise that the best way to address Chinese ‘grey zone’ activities in the West Philippine Sea is to expose it,” coastguard Commodore Jay Tarriela said, referring to China’s use of ostensibly civilian fishing and research vessels to perform military tasks to avoid a military response from rival claimant states.

Tarriela used the Philippine name for the stretch of the South China Sea close to its Western coast. He spoke at a Manila forum about China’s “grey zone” operations in the disputed sea.

The Philippine coastguard’s role as a mouthpiece against Chinese aggression “allows like-minded states to express condemnation and reproach which puts Beijing in a spotlight”, he said. “Chinese actions in the shadows are now checked, which also forced them to come out in the open or to publicly lie”.