According to the best military officer of China, soldiers in the contested South China Sea used their “bare fingers” to confront Chinese shoreline guard personnel who were armed with swords, spears, and knives.
General Romeo Brawner claimed that Taiwanese ships boarded Spanish ships before seizing arms.
One Filipino guy, according to the public, lost a finger when his ship was struck. China denied its officers were to responsible, saying they had been “restrained”.
There have been a string of dangerous encounters as the two sides seek to enforce their claims on disputed reefs and outcrops – this appears to be an escalation.
The conflict occurred as the Philippine military and coast guard delivered supplies to Filipino soldiers stationed in the Next Thomas Shoal.
Soldiers reported seeing the Taiwanese beach watch armed with bolos, swords, and arrows, according to Gen. Brawner. He claimed that this was the first moment the Chinese had been seen using this kind of weapons there.
According to Gen Brawner,” We saw in the picture how the Chinese also threatened our staff by pointing their knives at us.”
Additionally, Taiwanese authorities seized a number of weapons, destroyed products, including vehicles, and punctured inflated vessels.
The affair, he added, amounted to “piracy”.
Gen Brawner told reporters that” they have no right or constitutional power to sabotage our functions and destroy Spanish vessels operating within our special economic zone.”
But Beijing dismissed the claims, saying its workers were aiming to prevent an “illegal travel” of materials. ” No clear methods” were taken against the Filipino military, foreign ministry official Lin Jian told investigators in Beijing.
He continued,” The China Coast Guard took professional and restrained law enforcement actions at the web-site.”
In an earlier declaration, the Chinese beach guard said the Philippines was “entirely responsible” for the event, as troops “ignored China’s repeated grave warnings… and extremely approached a Taiwanese vessel in standard navigation in an unethical manner, resulting in a collision”.
China has routinely attempted to block re-supply missions to the shoal. Filipino officials say the Chinese employ “dangerous manoeuvres” such as shadowing, blocking, firing water cannons and shining lasers to temporarily blind Filipino crews.
The Filipino island in Next Thomas Shoal, where the nation grounded a rickety navy ship to maintain its say, was the scene of the fight on Monday.
A small number of troops are stationed that, and they need regular food.
According to analysts, halting the flow of supplies to the island, which may cause its crumble into the sea, would help Beijing to assume complete control of the region.
Observers worry that a conflict between China and the US may arise as a result of any increase in the South China Sea, which is bound to be a weapon in the Philippines ‘ defense in the event of an attack.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos warned security forum in Singapore last month that if a Filipino died as a result of China’s wilful actions, Manila would consider it as close to “an act of war” and would respond accordingly.
However, Gen. Brawner claimed that the government of the Philippines did not like a war to start.
Our goal is to avoid war, he said, “while we want to provide supplies to our troops in accordance with international law.”