Days before the latest incident, the United States and the Philippines agreed to resume joint patrols in the sea, and struck a deal to give US troops access to another four military bases in the Southeast Asian country.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday criticised the China Coast Guard’s actions as “provocative and unsafe”.
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in the face of the People’s Republic of China coast guard’s reported use of laser devices against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship,” Price said.
The Philippine patrol boat was supporting a “rotation and resupply mission” for the marines in Second Thomas Shoal when the Chinese vessel pointed the laser light at them twice, the Philippine Coast Guard said on Monday.
The Chinese boat also issued illegal radio challenges and undertook dangerous manoeuvres, which “constituted a threat to Philippine sovereignty and security as a state”, the foreign ministry said.
“These acts of aggression by China are disturbing and disappointing as it closely follows the state visit to China of President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza said.
Marcos and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed last month to “manage maritime differences through diplomacy and dialogue, without resorting to force and intimidation”, Daza said.
Price said that China’s “dangerous operational behaviour directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea … and undermines the rules-based international order”.