Philippines says China fired flares at its South China Sea plane

MANILA: The Philippines accused China on Saturday (Aug 24) of recently firing flares at one of its aircraft as it patrolled over the South China Sea.
Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a military ally of the Philippines.
A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on Aug 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane made a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.
The unprovoked Chinese “harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft”, the task force added in a statement accompanied by video clips of the incident.
Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on Aug 22 as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas” of the Philippines, it added.
Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.
The statement said the Chinese actions “demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardised the safety of the personnel onboard” the Filipino plane.
In a post on X, US ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson said her country “stands firmly with the (Philippines) in condemning the PRC (People’s Republic of China) for launching flares at (Philippine) aircraft operating legally near Scarborough and Subi Reefs”.
The two countries “call on the PRC to cease provocative and dangerous actions that undermine a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific”.
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef, which Manila also claims, on Aug 22.
The Chinese side undertook “necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security”, it said in a statement, without specifying the actions that were taken.
The Chinese statement did not mention any Aug 19 incident over Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines at the end of a 2012 standoff.
The latest Scarborough Shoal incident occurred hours after Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels collided near Sabina Shoal, with the Filipino side reporting structural damage on both of its patrol ships.
Sabina is located 140km west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200km from Hainan island, the nearest Chinese landmass.
The Philippines had earlier accused the Chinese air force of making a “dangerous manoeuvre” and dropping flares in the path of a Filipino plane that was patrolling over Scarborough on Aug 10.
In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal when the Chinese coast guard, wielding sticks, knives and an axe, also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment including guns.
Beijing has blamed the escalation on Manila and maintains its actions to protect its claims are legal and proportional.
It has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Manila on Saturday urged Beijing to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft”.
“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC with the international community,” its statement said.