By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Mincing no words, Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard’s spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) issues, on Wednesday (01 May 2024) accused China Coast Guard (CCG) of elevating tensions in the South China Sea after its use of water cannons that damaged two of its vessels.
“The Chinese Coast Guard now has elevated the tension and the level of their aggression as well towards the Philippine Coast Guard vessel,” Tarriela said in a press conference.
He added that the CCG seemed to have increased the pressure of their water cannons compared to the previous incidents.
“This is the first time that we can say that the Coast Guard vessel has been subjected to a direct water cannon with that kind of pressure that even resulted in structural damage,” the PCG official noted.
“If you are going to compare it last year and the recent incidents from the resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal and now here in Bajo de Masinloc with our humanitarian mission, it goes to show that Goliath is becoming more Goliath,” Tarriela further observed.
The PCG official decried the use of “brute force” by China in the WPS.
“They don’t hesitate to use brute force, to violate international law, to show the international community that they are going to blatantly disregard UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” Tarriela lamented.
Likening the situation to the biblical story of David and Goliath, the PCG official said in this situation the Philippines appears to be like the shepherd boy David who dared to stand up to the bullying giant Goliath.
“If you are going to ask me how am I going to interpret it, for me, this is still a response of China perhaps to our David and Goliath narrative. Because since we started our transparency strategy before, the David and Goliath shows we are the David and they are the Goliath and on the story, it’s David who was victorious in that kind of scenario,” Tarriela said.
(el Amigo/MNM)
