Philippines files protest over China’s laser use in sea dispute
Al JazeeraWashington said it stands with Manila after a Chinese vessel directed a powerful laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship. The Philippine government has lodged a diplomatic protest, calling on China to ensure its vessels cease “aggressive activities” after the Chinese coastguard used a “military-grade laser” to try to block one of its ships in the South China Sea. The Chinese coastguard had also engaged in dangerous manoeuvres that risked a collision, the ministry said, adding that such behaviour “constituted a threat” to the sovereignty and security of the Philippines and infringed on the country’s “rights and jurisdictions over its exclusive economic zone”, the official Philippine News Agency reported in a tweet. “The United States stands with our Philippine allies in the face of the People’s Republic of China Coast Guard’s reported use of laser devices against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard ship,” US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, said in a statement on Monday. China also blocked access to the shoal last August, it added, with two Chinese coastguard vessels joining two ships from China’s maritime militia to create a “blockade”.