中国船、「危険」行為で航行妨害　比沿岸警備隊が非難

【マニラＡＦＰ＝時事】フィリピンの沿岸警備隊は５日、中国と領有権を争う南シナ海で、中国海警局の船による「極めて危険」な行為により、比側の船２隻が妨害を受けたと非難した。（写真は南シナ海のセカンド・トーマス礁付近で、フィリピン沿岸警備隊の巡視船〈左〉の航行を妨害したとされる中国海警局の船。比沿岸警備隊提供）
　比沿岸警備隊によると、航行妨害があったのは先月３０日。セカンド・トーマス礁に領有権を主張するため座礁させている海軍の古い艦船に物資を届ける定例任務を遂行中だった。座礁船には海兵隊が駐屯している。
　同礁に向かう途中、中国海警局の船２隻が、比海軍船の警護に当たっていた沿岸警備隊の船２隻に接近したという。
　比沿岸警備隊の報道官は、中国船のうち１隻が比船の船首から９０メートル以内に入り、比側は衝突を回避するため減速を余儀なくされたと述べた。
　ＡＦＰは在マニラ中国大使館にコメントを求めたが、現時点で回答はない。
　セカンド・トーマス礁近海では４月にも、中国船が比船の４５メートル以内にまで近づき衝突寸前になるという同様の事案が発生している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/07/06-17:05）

The Philippine Coast Guard on Wednesday accused Chinese patrol vessels of blocking two of its boats in the disputed South China Sea, describing their actions as very dangerous.
China claims almost the entire sea despite rival claims from other Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Its coast guard and navy vessels routinely block or shadow Philippine ships patrolling the contested waters, Manila says.
The Philippine Coast Guard said the latest incident happened on June 30 during a regular operation to re-supply marines stationed in a run-down navy ship grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal to assert Manila's territorial claim in the waters.
As they neared the shoal, the two Philippine coast guard boats assigned as escorts for the navy mission were approached by two Chinese coast guard vessels.
One of the Chinese boats came within about 100 yards (90 metres) of the BRP Malabrigo's bow, forcing its commanding officer to slow down to avoid a collision, Commodore Jay Tarriela told reporters.
They dangerously conducted different manoeuvres, even crossing the bow of the Philippine Coast Guard vessels and that kind of distance is very dangerous because that's already prone to collision, said Tarriela, the coast guard spokesman for the West Philippine Sea.
Manila refers to waters immediately to its west as the West Philippine Sea.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A similar incident happened in April when a Chinese coast guard ship cut off the Philippine patrol vessel Malapascua as it carried journalists near the Second Thomas Shoal.
An AFP team was on another coast guard vessel and witnessed the near collision.
In that incident, the Malapascua's commanding officer Rodel Hernandez said the Chinese ship came within 45 metres of his boat and only his quick actions avoided the steel-hulled vessels crashing into each other.