China recalled the Philippines’ ambassador on Tuesday after a clash in a disputed South China Sea drew Beijing’s condemnation from Manila’s allies.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a vital global trade route, despite an international ruling that found its claims have no legal basis.
Multiple nations in the region, including the Philippines, have territorial claims that overlap with China’s, and skirmishes regularly occur in the heavily patrolled waterway.
The Philippine military accused China’s Coast Guard of clubbing a Filipino sailor on Monday as they approached a stranded ship that has long served as a Philippine garrison.
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had “urgently summoned” the Philippine ambassador “to submit solemn representations on the Philippines’ deliberate provocation and attack… on Ren’ai Reef,” referring to the flashpoint also known as Thomas II.
“The Philippine side provoked first, but turned the blame upside down, distorted the facts and maliciously dismissed the case,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Philippines’ key allies condemned the clash, with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong criticizing “destabilizing and dangerous behaviour” by China.
Wong’s comments came after Washington condemned Beijing’s “dangerous and aggressive actions”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Manila on Tuesday for a summit of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Rubio has said he is open to a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who will also attend the ASEAN summit, although the talks have not been publicly confirmed.
The two met last year on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur and again in Munich in February.
In an op-ed published in Philippine media on Tuesday, Rubio announced Washington’s commitment “to freedom of navigation in Southeast Asia” while reaffirming the US’s protective umbrella in the region.
“This freedom is far from guaranteed. If these waters were to fall under the control of a power willing to use trade as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and ASEAN states would face serious new threats to their sovereignty, security and economic future,” he wrote, in an apparent allusion to China.
