Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has summoned China’s ambassador to express his “serious concern” after a Chinese ship aimed a military-grade laser at a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea.
The Philippine coast guard on Monday said a Chinese coast guard ship directed a green laser light twice toward a Philippine vessel while it was on a resupply mission near Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on Feb 6, causing “temporary blindness” to the crew.
Marcos expressed his concern to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday “over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen” including the latest laser incident, his communications office said.
The incident came about a month after Marcos visited Beijing where he agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping that both nations will discuss maritime differences amicably in a bid to ease recent tensions.
The meeting between Marcos and Huang came shortly after Manila filed a diplomatic protest with the Chinese Embassy, condemning what it called harassment and dangerous manoeuvres by the Chinese vessel against Philippine ship BRP Malapascua. — Bloomberg
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