The Philippine government accused China on Saturday of firing flares at a Filipino aircraft conducting patrols over the South China Sea this month. The incident occurred amid escalating maritime tensions between Beijing and Manila, raising concerns about potential armed conflict involving the United States.
According to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, a Chinese fighter jet engaged in “irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on August 19, as a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane was performing a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal. The task force reported that Chinese forces deployed flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of about 15 meters from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft.
Additionally, on August 22, flares were launched near the same aircraft from China-held Subi Reef while it was monitoring and intercepting poachers within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and territorial seas.
China’s foreign ministry, in a statement on Friday, acknowledged taking unspecified “countermeasures” against two Philippine military aircraft over Subi Reef on August 22 but did not address the August 19 incident near Scarborough Shoal, which China has controlled since a 2012 standoff.
