China deploys water cannon in Spratlys clash with Philippines over Sandy Cay
Beijing and Manila in the disputed
South China Sea have intensified after another confrontation near Sandy Cay, this time involving the use of water cannon and a collision.
The Chinese coastguard said on Thursday that it had implemented the water cannon a day earlier as a control measure, against two Philippine vessels which it said had illegally intruded into waters near Subi Reef and
Sandy Cay in the Spratly Islands.
According to the coastguard statement, the Philippine vessels landed personnel on Sandy Cay and, ignoring repeated warnings, 'dangerously' approached a Chinese ship as it was carrying out regular law enforcement operations, resulting in the collision.
Spokesperson Liu Dejun said in the statement that Chinese coastguard personnel lawfully implemented control measures on the Philippine vessels and went ashore to investigate and handle the situation. Their operations on site were professional, standardised, reasonable, and legal, Liu added.
Sandy Cay is an unoccupied group of multiple sandbars known as Tiexian Jiao in China, and Pulo ng Bailan in the Philippines, with the official name of Pagasa Cay 2.
It is the closest reef to Subi Reef, known in China as Zhubi Jiao, and its second-largest artificial island and military base in the South China Sea. It is also only a few kilometres from Thitu Island, the largest base the Philippines currently holds.
'We urge the Philippine side to immediately cease its infringing actions. The China Coast Guard will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in waters under China's jurisdiction in accordance with the law,' Liu said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Russian media search for China boy who met Putin 25 years ago; now engineer recalls kiss
A Russian media search for a Chinese boy who had his photo taken with President Vladimir Putin 25 years ago has gone viral on mainland social media. Advertisement Now an engineer, the man has recalled the moment the president kissed his forehead and says the encounter had a lasting impact on his life. On July 17, Russia Today TV, which is also known as RT, posted a 'missing person search' on a major social media platform. Peng Pai pictured with President Putin's hands resting on his shoulders a quarter of a century ago in a Beijing park. Photo: handout The post recounted how, on July 17, 2000, Putin, then 47, made his first official visit to Beijing as President. After visiting the Forbidden City, Putin suggested rowing in a park. The sudden change of plan left security unable to clear the area in time, drawing a crowd of tourists. During the visit, Putin interacted with a 12-year-old Chinese boy and his father, creating a heartwarming moment captured by photographers. Advertisement The boy, Peng Pai, is reportedly from Yueyang City in Hunan province, central China.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
Competition should be about innovation and quality, not the price
As Beijing works aggressively to make sure the economy meets the 5 per cent growth target at year end, one new tool in its arsenal is to amend a key law to discourage vicious price wars that have plagued multiple sectors in recent years. From food delivery and e-commerce to solar power and electric cars, steep price cuts – with the aim to drive out competitors but which also undercut one's own profits – are fuelling deflationary pressure. That has led regulators to propose urgent amendments to an old pricing law. A public consultation is open until August 23. With transparency and an open mind, the authorities can use positive public feedback to fine-tune the changes. In the existing law, firms are banned from selling goods below cost to eliminate competitors or monopolise the market. The new amendment adds the condition that businesses cannot fight each other by dumping products at below-cost prices. With more transparent price regulation and oversight, they will also be prohibited from 'leveraging data, algorithms and technological tools' to chase clients and beat rivals. So far, market reactions have been positive. Listed companies in consumer services, non-ferrous metals and financial companies – sectors that have experienced cutthroat competition or what officials have termed 'involution' – have seen share prices move up since the news broke. There is, of course, a counterargument that market forces alone should decide prices. But in such cases of market failure, supervision and regulatory intervention are called for. Companies ought to compete on quality and innovation rather than price. A proper legal framework will work better to guide businesses and promote healthy competition, rather than for authorities to deliver ad hoc admonitions to offending firms when the situation has already become dire. In early July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology warned 14 major solar firms against a vicious price war and overcapacity. The share prices of some of them rose on the news, as markets expected price cutting eating into profits would stop. But such intervention is unsystematic. A transparent legal framework should be business-friendly with clear rules and regulations. Moderating or even eliminating involution will allow more time for companies to phase out outdated practices to better compete.
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
EU-China engagement shouldn't be reduced to a couple's therapy session
The 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the European Union and China should have been a celebratory occasion to reflect on the past and chart the course for the future. The 25th EU-China summit should have provided a space for such a commemorative moment, allowing both sides to display diplomatic pageantry and the symbolism of a forward-looking relationship. Instead, an initial two-day summit was watered down to a single-day event in Beijing on July 24, where President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang met European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen There was no joint EU-China summit communique, a standard diplomatic practice to show that a summit concluded successfully. Mired in tensions and seemingly irreconcilable differences, EU-China relations have entered a midlife crisis. To be fair, even during better days, relations were never particularly cosy. Rather, it was a relationship built upon necessity: despite ideological differences, choosing each other was a geopolitical and strategic choice – a necessary evil – to safeguard multilateralism and multipolarity. China's diplomatic tradition has long valued symbolism and protocol. The toned-down summit ensued after a string of meetings between Chinese diplomats, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi , and their European counterparts over the past month to carefully craft and control messaging – a foreign ministers' strategic dialogue on July 2, the seventh China-France high-level dialogue on people-to-people exchanges on July 4 and the sixth EU-China high-level climate dialogue in Beijing on July 14. The 25th EU-China summit nonetheless served more as a face-saving event for China and a damage control mechanism for the EU. Despite the EU's acknowledgement of 'the importance it continues to attach' to its relationship with China and 'its commitment to deepen engagement', the summit was akin to a couples therapy session. EU leaders vented a list of grievances and expectations to China without proposing concrete solutions.
