Three Chinese Coast Guard vessels on Tuesday blocked two Philippine Navy boats from supplying materials to Philippine sailors stationed at a maritime outpost on Ayungin Shoal, an atoll located within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, the Philippine Star reported Thursday.
One of the Chinese ships used a water cannon to blast the Philippine boats on November 16 for an entire hour, thwarting their attempt to deliver food supplies to Philippine military personnel stationed at Ayungin Shoal on the BRP Sierra Madre.
“Fortunately, no one was hurt; but our boats had to abort the resupply mission,” Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teddy Locsin, Jr. said in a statement issued November 17.
The BRP Sierra Madre became a de facto marine outpost after the Philippine Navy intentionally ran the ship aground on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to stake Manila’s rightful claim to the reef, which has long been illegally claimed by China.
Locsin said in his statement on Wednesday he had conveyed “in the strongest terms” Manila’s “outrage, condemnation, and protest” about the Ayungin Shoal incident to China’s ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Huang Xilian, and to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Ayungin Shoal is part of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which is an integral part of the Philippines, as well as the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and over which the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” Locsin continued.
The Philippine foreign minister referred to the Kalayaan Island Group, which is Manila’s name for the Spratly Islands.
“The acts of the Chinese Coast Guard vessels are illegal,” Locsin said Wednesday. “China has no law enforcement rights in and around these areas. They must take heed and back off.”
“The Philippines will continue to provide supplies to our troops in Ayungin Shoal. We do not ask permission to do what we need to do in our territory,” he affirmed.
In the days immediately preceding the November 16 incident, the Philippine Navy observed an “unusual presence of Chinese maritime militia” around Ayungin Shoal and nearby Pag-asa Island, which also pertains to the Spratlys. Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon told reporters on November 18 the Philippine military spotted 19 Chinese vessels near Ayungin Shoal last week and an additional 45 Chinese ships around Pag-asa Island. Esperon described the presence of Chinese boats within Manila’s sovereign maritime territory as “very aggressive.”
Beijing illegally claims the entire Spratly Island chain as its own territory, alleging the archipelago lies within the boundaries of its supposed “nine-dash line,” which is an imaginary outline encompassing nearly the entire South China Sea. China continues to push territorial claims citing the “nine-dash line” map despite it being declared unlawful in 2016 by an international arbitration ruling.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
During the Biden administration’s pullout of troops from Afghanistan, China seized the opportunity to take advantage of US weakness and embarrassment on the world scene. They became exponentially more brazen with their rhetoric and sought to usurp more power and control.
On August 29th, one day prior to the completion of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Chinese authorities demanded that all foreign vessels within the “nine-dash line,” which they referred to as “their territorial waters,” would be required to “report their information.”
The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration further claimed it “has the power to dispel or reject a vessel’s entry to Chinese waters if the vessel is found to pose threat to China’s national security,” according to the Global Times.
Zero Hedge reported in August that, “China’s ‘nine-dash line’ is deemed by most countries as being inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which only gives states the right to establish a territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles.”
Meanwhile, China in recent months has also escalated its threats of war. In July, the CCP published a ‘three-stage’ plan to invade Taiwan, and threatened to nuke Japan should they dare to intervene. In August, they warned Taiwan that the US would not come to their rescue “once a war breaks out” in the Straits.
In October it was revealed that during the summer the Chinese tested a “nuclear-capable hypersonic missile.”
Earlier this month, the CCP built full-scale mockups of US Navy ships to seemingly use as target practice, further increasing tensions.
In Matthew 24, the disciples ask Jesus, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” Jesus’s response is a detailed description of the condition of the world and what it will look like in the last days before His return. Wars and rumours of wars, nation rising against nation, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, these being the beginning of sorrows.
In Luke 21:25, Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth Distress of Nations with Perplexity, the seas and the wave roaring. These things will be greatly increased and primarily take place during the seven-year Tribulation (from which the church is absent). However, with the current global state of turmoil amongst the nations, we can’t help but recognize the distress of nations Jesus describes in Luke 21 and Matthew 24, rising in our world today.
