AFP chief: China's use of water cannon on PH boats 'short of declaring war'

From CNN Philippines (Aug 9, 2023): AFP chief: China's use of water cannon on PH boats 'short of declaring war' (By CNN Philippines Staff)

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) — The chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) believes China stopped "short of declaring war" when its coast guard fired water cannons at Philippine boats en route to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.

However, AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. said it would have been a "totally different story" if China used water cannons on Philippine Navy ships.

"That would mean you are already doing aggressive actions against a military ship, and that could be interpreted as an act of war already," Brawner told CNN Philippines' Politics as Usual.

"They know that. The reason why we believe they used their Chinese Coast Guard ships...They wanted to act short of war– short of declaring war. So all of these are considered actions in the grey-zone, meaning they are not really overt acts of war but lower than that," he added.

Why Navy ships not front and center

The AFP chief explained that conditions in Ayungin Shoal only allows smaller boats be used to reach the BRP Sierra Madre.

"If we use our Navy boats, we still have to anchor far from Ayungin Shoal and use smaller boats to bring our supplies to BRP Sierra Madre," Brawner said. "What we do from the very start, we use already smaller boats to carry our supplies."

Brawner added that Philippine Navy ships were escorting the Philippine Coast Guard boats when the water cannon incident occurred.

He said resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre are an obligation to support and sustain military troops there.

READ: Sending supplies to BRP Sierra Madre within PH rights, cannot be meddled with

The AFP also said he believes China and the Philippines already learned from the 2012 standoff, when Beijing took over Scarborough Shoal, prompting Manila to file a case for international arbitration.

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/8/9/AFP-chief-China-water-cannon-use-short-of-declaring-war.html