China Coast Guard accused of behaving ‘like pirates’ in South China Sea
Al Jazeera
Philippines says coastguard personnel armed with knives and spears boarded their ships in Second Thomas Shoal confrontation.
The Philippines has accused the China Coast Guard of acting “like pirates”, saying personnel armed with knives and spears boarded their resupply vessels at Second Thomas Shoal in the latest confrontation in the disputed South China Sea.
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces General Romeo Brawner said the incident took place on June 17 as Filipino soldiers attempted to resupply sailors stationed on the Sierra Madre, which Manila grounded on the reef in 1999.
“The Chinese Coast Guard personnel had bladed weapons and our personnel fought with bare hands,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday. “We were outnumbered and their weapons were unexpected but our personnel fought with everything that they had.”
The Philippines said one of their sailors was badly injured, and the boats were damaged.
Brawner said the coastguard had acted like pirates.
