Protest filed vs China after flares fired at AFP aircraft at Union Banks –Esperon

The Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against China after the latter fired flares at an Armed Forces aircraft patrolling the Union Banks, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said on Friday.

In a virtual press conference, Esperon, who chairs the National Task Force for the West Philippines Sea, said the incident happened last June.

“I recalled an incident last June 2021 when flares, not gunshots of any caliber, were fired at an Armed Forces aircraft,” he said.

“True to what we have agreed upon, we immediately put it into political…there was a diplomatic protest,” he added.

According to Esperon, there were two Chinese detachments at the Union Banks area.

He said they continued to monitor the presence of marine scientific research vessels that operated in the West Philippine Sea with the permission of the Philippines, which the Department of Foreign Affairs had also protested against.

Esperon added that the Philippines had also protested China’s unnecessary swarming of vessels around its station in Pagasa Island, turning off their automatic identification system, among others.

In 2013, the Philippines challenged China’s legal basis for its expansive claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Philippines won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing’s assertions.

China has since rejected the ruling, saying its claims have a historical basis and are “indisputable.” — DVM, GMA News