ASEAN foreign ministers focused on progress toward a regional Code of Conduct with China in the South China Sea after the Philippines raised the recent Ayungin Shoal incident, where a Filipino sailor was injured in an encounter with Chinese Coast Guard personnel.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said she personally brought up the incident during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Pasay City, but the issue did not prompt a response from her counterparts as discussions between Manila and Beijing remain ongoing.
“I was the one who presented it as part of the discussion because everybody has read it. It’s all in the newspapers. But the foreign ministers did not respond to that position that I made, because I think everything is still being discussed between the two parties,” Lazaro said.
The incident occurred near the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, where the Armed Forces of the Philippines said a Chinese Coast Guard rigid-hull inflatable boat carrying eight personnel approached the Philippine outpost at close range.
The Chinese personnel allegedly took photos and videos of the outpost, prompting two Philippine Navy rubber boats to direct them away in what the AFP described as a measured and nonconfrontational response.
The AFP said the Chinese personnel then acted “violently and aggressively,” with one Filipino Navy member sustaining a head injury after being struck with a wooden baton. The encounter also damaged a Philippine Navy rubber boat.
Lazaro said the broader South China Sea issue was discussed at the retreat, but most foreign ministers emphasized the continuing negotiations between ASEAN and China on the long-delayed Code of Conduct.
“I think what (they were) really very emphatic about is the Code of Conduct. All the foreign ministers, almost all, have really focused themselves on the development that is happening on the Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China on the South China Sea,” she said.
The latest confrontation has drawn support for the Philippines from the United States, Japan and the European Union.
US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott condemned what Washington described as China’s “dangerous and aggressive actions” against Philippine Navy personnel and praised the Filipino sailors’ “professionalism and restraint.”
Japan also expressed serious concern over what its ambassador to the Philippines, Endo Kazuya, called aggressive actions near Ayungin Shoal.
The EU Delegation in Manila said it opposed unilateral actions that endanger personnel at sea and threaten regional stability and the rules-based international order.
The incident has added pressure on ASEAN and China to advance negotiations on a Code of Conduct as maritime confrontations continue to test regional efforts to manage tensions in the South China Sea.
