HARASSMENT ON HIGH SEAS – This photo taken on April 23, 2023, shows the Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Malapascua (left) maneuvering as a Chinese coast guard ship cuts its path
at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. —AFP
MANILA, Philippines — Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko on Thursday criticized Beijing’s “dangerous behavior” in the South China Sea.
Koshikawa issued the statement a week after China Coast Guard ships maneuvered dangerously close to two Philippine Coast Guard vessels supporting a supply mission in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
“As China’s unilateral actions such as repeated intrusions into Japan’s waters around the Senkaku Islands in the [East China Sea], China’s dangerous behavior in the South China Sea in defiance of the 2016 arbitration award is a grave concern for regional peace and stability,” Koshikawa said in a social media post.
The arbitral ruling of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
China, however, has repeatedly refused to recognize the historic decision.
Japan also has its own maritime dispute with China over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea that Tokyo refers to as Senkakus and Beijing calls the Diaoyu.