The confrontations between China and the Philippines have taken place in many places in the South China Sea in recent months.
On Saturday, the United States condemned China’s “dangerous and escalating” actions against Philippine maritime operations in the area, according to a statement from the US State Department, according to the Reuters news agency.
Last Saturday, China and the Philippines made new accusations against each other.
China accused a Philippine ship of intentionally ramming into a Chinese ship, while the Philippines accused a Chinese ship of the same.
In the statement, the USA refers precisely to the latest accusation between the two countries.
– A Chinese Coast Guard vessel deliberately collided three times with a Philippine Coast Guard vessel exercising its freedom of navigation in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
– It caused damage to the vessel and endangered the safety of the crew, writes a spokesperson for the ministry Matthew Miller in the statement.
The statement also states that the episode was the latest in a series of dangerous and escalating actions by China in the South China Sea during August.
The accusations between China and the Philippines have taken place in recent months.
In addition to allegations of ship collisions, the Philippines has also claimed that a Chinese aircraft fired flares at a Philippine aircraft.
The Chinese government believes that virtually all of the South China Sea belongs to China. This also applies to parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Parts of the waterway are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits as well as fish stocks.
In 2014, China began building a large number of artificial islands in the area.
The dispute in the waters concerns, among other things, the artificial island built on top of the Subi reef in the Spratly archipelago.
Several other countries in the region claim some of the sea areas and reefs where China has built the artificial islands.
The disputed area lies east of the coast of Vietnam, west of the Philippines, north of Malaysia and Brunei, and south of Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.
/ritzau/
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
