MANILA: The Philippine government accused China on Saturday of firing flares at one of its aircraft as it flew patrols over the South China Sea this month.
Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a Filipino military ally.
A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers” on August 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane made a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.
The unprovoked Chinese “harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 meters from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft,” the task force added in a statement.
Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas” of the Philippines, it added.
Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef, which Manila also claims, on August 22.
The Chinese side undertook “necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security,” it said in a statement.
The Philippine government said the BFAR plane was a civilian Cessna aircraft.
The Chinese statement did not mention any August 19 incident over Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines at the end of a 2012 standoff.
The Scarborough Shoal incident occurred hours after Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels collided near Sabina Shoal, with the Filipino side reporting structural damage on both of its patrol ships.
The shoal is located 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest Chinese landmass.
The Philippines has also accused a Chinese air force plane of making a “dangerous maneuver” and dropping flares in the path of a Filipino air force plane that was patrolling over Scarborough on August 10.
In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal when the Chinese coast guard, wielding sticks, knives and an axe, 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.
It has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Manila on Saturday urged Beijing to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities within Philippine territory and Exclusive Economic Zone,” as well as freedom of navigation and overflights.
“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) with the international community,” the task force statement said.
Philippines says China fired flares at its South China Sea plane
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Philippines says China fired flares at its South China Sea plane
- Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22
171 bodies found in mass graves in eastern Congo, an official says
- Authorities found two mass graves with at least 171 dead bodies in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira
- M23’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment
KINSHASA: Congolese authorities and a civil society group said Thursday that mass graves were found in part of eastern Congo that the M23 rebel group has recently withdrawn from, as fighting in the region escalates despite a US-mediated peace deal.
The governor of South-Kivu province, Jacques Purusi, said authorities found two mass graves with at least 171 dead bodies in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira neighborhoods on the outskirts of the eastern city of Uvira.
“At this stage, we have identified two sites: one mass grave containing approximately 30 bodies in Kiromoni, not far from the Burundian border on the Congolese side, and another in Kavimvira where 141 bodies were found,” Purusi told The Associated Press over the phone.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. M23’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Executive Secretariat of the Local Network for the Protection of Civilians, a civil society group in the region, said Thursday it wanted to visit the mass graves but was prevented from doing so by the Congolese military.
Information gathered so far indicates that the victims were killed by M23 rebels, said Yves Ramadhani, the group’s vice president.
The governor and the civil society group alleged that the rebels killed the individuals because they suspected them of belonging to the Congolese army or a pro-government militia.
Both the Congolese military and M23 have been accused of extrajudicial killings and abuses by rights groups.
