MANILA: The Philippines accused China on Saturday of recently firing flares at one of its aircraft as it patroled over the South China Sea.

Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a Filipino military ally.

A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on August 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane flew near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.

The unprovoked Chinese “harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft”, the task force added in a statement accompanied by video clips of the incident.

Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas”, it added.

Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.

The statement said the Chinese actions “demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardised the safety of the personnel onboard” the Filipino plane.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024