MANILA, Aug 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on
Sunday condemned what he called "illegal and reckless" actions by China's air
force last week against a Filipino military plane patrolling over a disputed
South China Sea reef.

Two Chinese air force aircraft undertook a "dangerous manoeuvre" and dropped
flares in the path of a Philippine air force turboprop over Scarborough Shoal
on Thursday, according to the Philippine military.

Manila said the Chinese actions put the lives of its crew in danger, but that
the patrol plane returned safely to base.

The Chinese actions were "unjustified, illegal and reckless, especially as
the PAF (Philippine Air Force) aircraft was undertaking a routine maritime
security operation in Philippine sovereign airspace," Marcos said in a
statement.

Marcos "strongly condemns" the incident, the statement said, adding it was
"worrying that there could be instability in our airspace".

China defended its operations on Saturday, saying it had "organised naval and
air forces to lawfully... (drive) away" the Philippine plane, following
"repeated warnings".

"We sternly warn the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement,
provocation, distortion and hype," said a statement from the Southern Theater
Command of the People's Liberation Army, adding that "China has indisputable
sovereignty over Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) and adjacent waters".

- Flashpoint reef -

The incident follows a series of increasingly tense confrontations between
Manila and Beijing, which claims most of the South China Sea and seized the
shoal after a 2012 standoff with the Philippines.

In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a
confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal, in another area of the South China
Sea, when the Chinese coastguard 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.

Following the Second Thomas Shoal clash, the two countries agreed on a
"provisional arrangement" for resupplying Filipino troops based on a decrepit
warship grounded atop the reef, and also to increase the number of
communication lines to resolve disputes in the waterway.

The Chinese air force action on Thursday came a day after China carried out a
combat patrol near Scarborough Shoal to test the "strike capabilities" of its
troops.

Scarborough Shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks, is 240 kilometres
(150 miles) west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900
kilometres from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.

Despite last week's incident, the Philippines said Sunday it will continue to
patrol its Exclusive Economic Zone, defined by the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea as waters beyond a coastal nation's territorial seas
over which it has sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources.

"The Armed Forces of the Philippines reaffirm our determination to conduct
regular surveillance operations in line with international law," military
spokesperson Francel Padilla said in an interview over local radio station
DZBB.

"We will safeguard our country's sovereignty and security over our maritime
domain," she added.