The Philippines says it has suspended a scientific survey in the South China Sea after its fisheries vessels faced "dangerous harassment” and aggressive behaviour from China’s coastguard and navy.
The Philippine Coast Guard said on Saturday that three Chinese coastguard vessels and four smaller boats made "aggressive manoeuvres” towards two Philippine Bureau of Fisheries inflatable boats that were on their way to collect sand samples from Sandy Cay near the Philippine-occupied Thitu island on Friday. A Chinese navy helicopter also hovered at an "unsafe altitude” over those craft, it said.
The two countries have been engaging in a long-running series of escalating confrontations in disputed waters of the South China Sea for years. China claims almost all of the strategic waterway, through which $3 trillion of commerce moves annually, overlapping with claims by the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
"As a result of this continuous harassment and the disregard for safety exhibited by the Chinese maritime forces”, survey operations were suspended, the Philippine Coast Guard said. China Coast Guard said the Philippine vessels had entered waters near Tiexian Reef without permission and attempted to "illegally” land on the reef to collect sand samples.