Day: March 5, 2024

The European Parliament and the European Union Council on Tuesday reached an provisional agreement that outlines new rules banning products made with forced labor.

But an expert told Radio Free Asia the rules would be hard to enforce in Xinjiang – where thousands of Uyghurs are engaged in forced labor – because it places the burden of proof on the EU rather than on China or Chinese companies.

Since 2017, China has imprisoned an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs in “re-education camps,” where they receive training in various skills and are forced to work in factories making everything from chemicals and clothing to car parts. China says they are vocational training facilities, and that they have since been shut down.

Camp survivors and witnesses state the Uyghurs faced intense political indoctrination, abuse, rape, torture and even death in the camps.

Western companies have come under pressure to withdraw from their operations in Xinjiang. Last month, German chemical maker BASF said it was pulling out of its joint ventures in the region, and car company Volkswagen says it is reviewing its operations there.

The bill – which needs to be approved by the European Parliament – says that the national authorities or the EU Commission will “investigate suspected use of forced labor in companies’ supply chains,” an EU parliament press release said.

“If the investigation concludes that forced labor has been used, the authorities can demand that relevant goods be withdrawn from the EU market and online marketplaces, and confiscated at the borders,” it reads.

According to the EU agreement, goods found to have been produced by forced labor would be donated, recycled or destroyed. 

“This law is ground breaking in the field of human rights. It will prevent forced labor products from entering our market,” said Samira Rafaela, co-rapporteur from the Netherlands. “To combat forced and state-imposed labor, we must work with like-minded partners and become a strong ally in the global fight against forced labor.”

Forced labor has been a reality for too long, said co-rapporteur Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques of Portugal.

There were an estimated 27.6 million people affected by it in 2021, mostly in the private sector, but also victims of state-sponsored forced labor, she said. 

“The deal we reached today will assure the EU has an instrument to ban products made with forced labor from the Union market as well as to tackle various forms of forced labor, including when it is imposed by a state.”

Questionable effectiveness

But the proposed law is weaker than the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or UFLPA, said Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow and director in China Studies at the Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Because it relies on the EU Commission to investigate forced labor, its effectiveness in banning Uyghur forced labor would be questionable, Zenz said.

“And that means that the European Commission would have to somehow investigate the presence of Uyghur forced labor, which is not possible,” said Zenz. ”Contrary to the American Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, [the EU] did not reverse the burden of proof because the European Council refused that.”

In September, three firms were blacklisted under the UFLPA, bringing total banned firms to 27.

Even in cases where the EU is able to determine that goods were made by slave labor, the EU agreement would be less effective than the UFLPA, Zenz said.

“The AmericanUFLPA can immediately seize goods, stop them from entering, whereas in the European case when an investigation is open, the goods can continue to flow into Europe,” he said. 

“I think it’s disappointing that the law was not made stronger to counter Uyghur forced labor,” he said. “And this is due to, I think, a lack of understanding the nature of state imposed forced labor.”

Zenz said that the EU member states may also fear economic ramifications of strongly countering forced labor. “They’re focused on other interests than on trying to systematically combat the situation in Xinjiang.”

Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

Myanmar’s junta has declared martial law in three northern Shan state townships seized by ethnic rebels during an ongoing offensive, prompting concern from residents who fear the military is planning a push to retake the areas.

The junta has declared martial law in more than 60 townships across the country, including in Sagaing, Magwe, Tanintharyi and Bago regions, as well as in Chin state. The designation has been used as a justification by the military to impose heavy punishments on residents on the basis of suspicion alone. 

Observers say the junta had refrained from declaring martial law in Namhsan, Mantong and Namtu townships in northern Shan state with the hope the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, would join a ceasefire agreement. The declaration, announced Monday, is an indication that negotiations have stalled, they said.

The TNLA, the Arakan Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army together make up the ethnic Three Brotherhood Alliance, which in October launched an offensive known as Operation 1027 against the military in northern Shan state, which borders China.

Less than two months after the start of Operation 1027, the TNLA captured Namsan, Mantong and Namtu, on Dec. 15, 22 and 28. Since then, the ethnic army’s top leadership has regularly conducted public meetings with what they say is an emphasis on a “community-based governance system” in the townships.

In Namtu, municipal, healthcare and electricity services have been restored, according to residents, and inhabitants who fled earlier fighting have mostly returned home.

While the TNLA remains the de facto leadership in the three townships, the junta’s imposition of martial law technically transfers their administrative and judicial oversight to the commander of the military’s Northeastern Command, based in the region’s largest town Lashio.

Residents told RFA Burmese that the declaration of martial law came “just as the situation began to stabilize,” and said they now fear renewed clashes between the military and the TNLA.

“We are now under TNLA governance, and the junta no longer exists here,” said a resident of Namtu who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. Now that martial law has been declared, it’s as if they could attack us whenever they want.”

All three townships are within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of the Northeastern Command, the resident noted, which “adds to our unease.”

“We may need to prepare trenches and bomb shelters once again,” she said.

‘Even less secure’

A resident of Namsan told RFA that while the situation in her township wasn’t safe before, “now it feels even less secure.”

“The use of airplanes to drop bombs and the indiscriminate use of heavy weaponry add to our concerns,” she said. “While some people have not yet returned to their homes, others have just come back.”

An official from the TNLA news and information department told RFA that the junta’s declaration of martial law in the three townships was no surprise.

“That’s just what they do,” he said. “During the height of fighting, the junta declared martial law in [eight northern Shan state] townships … now, post-battle, announcing martial law in these three townships aligns with their strategic approach.”

On Nov. 12, as Operation 1027 reached a crescendo, the junta declared martial law in the townships of Lashio, Kutkai, Kunlong, Hsenwi, Namhkam, Muse, and Chinshwehaw, as well as in Laukkai, in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. A curfew remains in effect in the townships, with movement restricted between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance captured 16 cities in Shan state, including Muse and Chinshwehaw, as part of the offensive before agreeing to a ceasefire in China-brokered talks with junta representatives on Jan. 11.

An ex-military official later said it was not sustainable and less than a week after the agreement, both sides were accused of violating it in a skirmish.

Last week, the two sides met again in the Chinese city of Kunming for talks that focused on reopening parts of the border with China that had been shut down during the fighting and preserving the ceasefire.

‘It’s clear they’ve given up’

But a political commentator and former military officer told RFA that peace in northern Shan state remains tenuous.

He said that while the junta had been holding out hope that the TNLA would join Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, or NCA, the declaration of martial law in the townships under its control indicates that the military leadership no longer sees that as an option.

“[The junta was] indecisive from the beginning, and even was vacillating [on how to deal with the TNLA],” he said. “Now, it’s clear that they’ve given up trying [to bring them into the NCA].”

The NCA was introduced in 2015 to end years of fighting over minority rights and self-determination. Since then, some 10 ethnic groups have signed the agreement.

The junta’s declaration of martial law in Namhsan, Mantong and Namtu follows a Jan. 28 declaration in the Shan state townships of Mongmit and Mabein. The two townships had earlier been seized by the Kachin Independence Army.

The latest declaration brings to 13 the number of townships under martial law in Shan state.

Township captured

The imposition of martial law on Namsan, Mantong and Namtu came amid reports on Tuesday that the Arakan Army, or AA, had captured Ponnagyun township in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where it continues to battle the military despite the Three Brotherhood Alliance ceasefire in Shan state.

In a statement, the AA claimed that Ponnagyun is under its “complete control” after 13 days of fighting, from Feb. 21 to March 4, culminating in the capture of the military’s Light Infantry Division 550 base there on Monday.

It said its fighters had seized “several bodies” of junta troops, including that of junta Tactical Commander Col. Myo Min Ko Ko, Light Infantry Battalion 208 Commander Col. Pyo Thu Aung and Light Infantry Battalion 550 Commander Maj. Saw Htwe.

The AA also claimed to be treating those who surrendered and their families “well,” and to have defended Ponnagyun from attacks by three junta naval vessels.

A resident of Rakhine confirmed to RFA that “the entire township of Ponnagyun lies under the AA’s control, with no trace of the junta.”

He said that after the AA assumed control of Ponnagyun, the junta targeted the area with a dozen air strikes and also attacked a nearby bridge because they were “concerned that the AA might advance toward Rathedaung township next.”

The junta has remained silent about the AA’s seizure of Ponnagyun. Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the attorney general of Rakhine and the junta’s spokesman for the state, went unanswered Tuesday.

In the three months since the AA ended a ceasefire in Rakhine state that had been in place since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat, the ethnic army has taken over the Rakhine townships of Pauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Myebon, Taungpyo, and Ponnagyun, as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state.

The AA is currently fighting for control of Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Maungdaw, and Ramree townships in Rakhine.

Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Ten years have passed since Jacquita Gonzales hugged her husband, Malaysia Airlines flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, before he left their Petaling Jaya home on March 8, 2014.

Gomes was among the 239 passengers and crew who were on board MH370, a Beijing-bound flight operated by the Malaysian flag carrier that disappeared from radar not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur that night.

“Still fresh in my memory, but time flies. My grandkid who was only 3 years old at the time has grown up to become a 13-year-old teenager. I still pine for closure, but I have to face the reality that he is no longer with us,” she told BenarNews.

A decade on, the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight remains unsolved. In the hours, days and weeks after the Boeing 777 vanished, a massive multinational sea-and-air search ensued in Indian Ocean waters off western Australia, where the plane is believed to have crashed after veering off course and running out of fuel. 

Jacquita said the disappearance of MH370 led to widespread speculation, searches and investigations – but no conclusive answers other than a few pieces of wreckage found washed ashore on islands in the Indian Ocean and along the African coast. 

During a ceremony on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the flight’s disappearance, hundreds of next of kin, relatives and supporters gathered at a shopping center in Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur. They said their hope was renewed after Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook assured them that searches for the aircraft might resume. 

Loke said he would meet the U.S.-based seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity Ltd., which had conducted a four-month fruitless search in 2018, as soon as possible before bringing the proposal to the cabinet for approval of the cost, incurred only if the vanished airliner is located.

“If they can find the place, the cost is something the government has to bear. I don’t see any hindrance,” Loke said.

Disappearance

MH370’s pilot made his final contact with air traffic control at 1:19 a.m. while flying over the South China Sea.

His final words were “Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero.” No distress signals were received.

After it veered off course, the plane appears to have passed over the northern tip of Sumatra and traveled in a southerly direction until it ran out of fuel. A three-year joint probe by Malaysia, Australia and China was suspended in January 2017.

The Malaysian government’s Flight 370 Safety Investigation team released a 495-page report which found that MH370 flew for almost 20 minutes unmonitored by air traffic centers as it crossed between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.

In addition, Kuala Lumpur air traffic control failed to initiate the required emergency phases and contact the Royal Malaysian Air Force in a timely manner after realizing that something was amiss.

The report acknowledged there were 27 significant debris recovered including debris confirmed to be from the aircraft along with 15 others labeled as “almost certain” and “highly likely.” The debris were found as far as north as the eastern coast of Tanzania and far south as the eastern coast of South Africa.

Earlier reports claimed the flight’s transponder had been turned off 40 minutes into what was to be a six-hour flight. Instead it flew for nearly eight hours and its last transmission showed it flying south over the Indian Ocean.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reiterated that a search would be renewed if there was a compelling case and evidence on the missing aircraft.

“It is an issue affecting the lives of people and whatever needs to be done must be done,” he said during a joint news conference in Melbourne with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The flight carried 153 Chinese nationals along with 38 from Malaysia, seven from Indonesia, six from Australia, five from India, and four from France along with other nationalities.

In a statement Sunday night after the anniversary ceremony, Oliver Plunkett, CEO of Ocean Infinity, said his company felt it was now “in a position to return to the search” for MH370. He said it submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government to resume operations.

“We hope to get back to the search soon,” Plunkett said. 

In January 2018, the government agreed to pay Ocean Infinity up to U.S. $70 million (280 million ringgit) to find wreckage of MH370.

Impact ‘seen years later’

Calvin Shim, 48, whose wife Christine Tan was a crew member on MH370, said his family’s grief remains.

“Nothing prepares you for the effect of experiencing a high-profile tragedy like this. The impact can only be seen years later,” he told BenarNews.

He said he had tried to hide his grief for the sake of his children, who were 6 and 8 years old at the time.

“[But] I was told by our specialist, she is experiencing the sudden loss of emotional support from her mother,” said Shim of his daughter, adding that both children continue to be treated for emotional distress.

Jacquita, 61, who battled breast cancer twice – first in 2006 and then again in 2016 – has decided it is time for closure. Her cancer is in remission.

Next month, she will be holding a memorial for Patrick at St Xavier’s Church in Petaling Jaya. They were married at the church in 1985, so this will bring their journey full circle.

“Since there are no ashes, no final resting place … the wedding ring is symbolic. At least the family would have a place to light a candle during his birthday or anniversaries,” she said, adding that she had given most of Patrick’s clothes away. 

“I have kept his luggage bag, his name tag and work shoes,” she said, adding he was not wearing his wedding band so she has that as well.

Bai Shuan Fu, a Chinese man whose wife, Han Ai Chin was on the plane, urged the Malaysian government to continue its efforts.

“We don’t want more speculation. We want evidence and truth,” he told BenarNews.

A second air disaster

Four months after MH370 vanished, Malaysia became the center of the aviation world again.

On July 17, 2014, a missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine then controlled by Russian-backed rebels downed a second Malaysia Airlines plane, flight MH17, as it flew to Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Amsterdam, killing all 298 people on board.

Fuad Sharuji, a former crisis director at Malaysia Airlines, had to face both of those back-to-back air disasters when he was still performing that job in 2014.

“One was wrapped in mystery, conspiracy theories, lots of unknowns and no real answers,” he told BenarNews. “MH17, on the other hand, wreckage, bodies … it was gruesome, yes, but we could do the recovery work, identify the victims, facilitate all those post-mortem procedures and help with the burials and cremations. 

“We could be hands-on,” he said.

Fuad, 68, keeps in touch with aviation industry officials and with families who lost loved ones on MH370 and MH17. 

Fuad supports the government’s commitment to keep searching for MH370.

“Getting the cabinet approvals is a positive step. The plane’s been gone for a decade, but this renewed effort gives us hope,” he said. “Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, but at least there’s a chance.”

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

Chinese-language posts claimed that Chinese coast guard vessels crossed into waters near Taiwan-controlled Kinmen island on Feb. 19, citing a video clip and a media report as evidence. 

But the claim is misleading. The footage was taken from an irrelevant event. The media reports in question cited a real-time tracker of Chinese ships but did not provide visual evidence.

The claim was shared in a YouTube video on Feb. 24.

“Six Chinese coast guard vessels in two groups crossed into the restricted waters around Kinmen on Feb. 19,” said the narrator of the video.

The YouTube video featured several clips that show white and blue ships at sea, with the narrator pointing out the white ones as Chinese coast guard vessels. He also referenced a real-time tracker of Chinese ship locations to support his claim.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated in the weeks following the death of two Chinese fishermen who crossed into the restricted waters and subsequently attempted to evade inspection by Taiwan’s Coast Guard on Feb. 14. 

After the Taiwan Affairs Office denied Taiwan’s restricted maritime zone around Kinmen on Feb. 17, the China Coast Guard, or CSG, announced the next day its intent to patrol waters near the island. 

On Feb. 19, the CSG forcefully boarded and searched a Taiwanese tour boat near Kinmen. Subsequently, on Feb. 25, they released footage showcasing naval drills in the vicinity.

The denial by the Beijing controlled Taiwan Affairs Office that Taiwan’s restricted maritime zone around Kinmen existed on February 17 was followed one day later by an announcement from the China Coast Guard (CSG) that it would conduct patrol in the waters near Kinmen. 

The claim was later reposted by a subsidiary of China’s state-owned outlet National Defense Times.

Old, irrelevant footage

But a reverse image search on Google found the identical video published in a report by a Filipino online news website Rappler on Sep. 8, 2023.

“Video from the Philippine Coast Guard shows Chinese ships sailing dangerously close to Philippine vessels,” the report reads in part. 

“Chinese vessels on Friday, September 8, tried to block Philippine boats en route to Ayungin Shoal to bring supplies for Filipino Marines stationed onboard the BRP Sierra Madre,” it reads further.  

Photos and videos showing the same vessels were also published by other Filipino media outlets, including the Manila Standard and Marine Link. 

Lack of visual evidence

While some media outlets, including Taiwan’s United Daily News and UP Media, referenced the China Ports Network, which offers a real-time tracking of Chinese ships, claiming that six CGC vessels neared Kinmen island on Feb. 19, they failed to present any visual confirmation. 

Keyword searches also did not find any reliable reports or visual proof of these vessels approaching the island’s vicinity on that specific day. 

Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang and Malcolm Foster.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Police in northeastern Thailand rescued an 18-year-old Lao woman after they were told she was sexually abused by her male employer and was being prevented from leaving the home where she worked as a caregiver.

The woman worked at the home in Udon Thani province for about six months and wasn’t allowed to go outside for the last five months, her brother, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, told Radio Free Asia. 

She was working legally taking care of the elderly mother of her Thai employer. The employer – a retired doctor – had confiscated her passport, work permit and electronic communication devices, but last week she was able to contact her brother, her brother said. 

“She told me that her employer always sexually abused her,” he told RFA. “She cannot stand this anymore and decided to tell me, and then I told the police.”

On Sunday, the woman climbed a wall at the home to reach Thai police officers who had arrived outside the home along with her brother.

“The Thai employer wouldn’t open the house gate when we arrive,” the brother said. “I wanted to make sure she was in a safe situation, so I told her to climb the wall to come out.” 

Udon Thani provincial police told RFA that they are investigating the accusations against the retired doctor. No arrests or official accusations have been made, police Lt. Col. Singharaj Keokeutmi said.

The retired doctor is a former Thai government employee, according to Opas Karnkawinpong, the permanent secretary at Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health. Udon Thani is about 60 km (37 miles) south of Laos’ Thanaleng border crossing.

Young migrant workers

RFA was unable to reach the Lao woman for her comments. For safety and investigative reasons, the Thai police have asked her to stop speaking to the media. 

However, earlier this week she told Thai media that the retired doctor sexually abused her from the beginning of her employment. She went to the provincial hospital on Monday for a check up, the brother said.

An estimated 230,000 Laotians do domestic work, construction and farming throughout Thailand, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Labor. 

Thailand’s aging population will bring more job possibilities for young migrant workers from Laos in the coming years, a senior Thai labor official said in December at a conference on migration in Bangkok.

That number will likely increase as young Laotians leave for Thailand’s higher paying jobs as Laos’ economy struggles with inflation, a devalued currency and low pay.

Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Matt Reed.

Four Filipino crew members were injured Tuesday when China Coast Guard ships used water cannons to block Philippine vessels taking supplies to Manila’s military outpost at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the South China Sea, Filipino officials said.

Chinese and Philippine ships have engaged in a cat-and-mouse chase in waters around the shoal for more than a year, with Manila accusing Beijing of “aggressively” trying to stop its vessels from delivering supplies to Filipino troops stationed at Ayungin.

Tuesday’s incident marked the first time that Manila said that people had been injured in these maneuvers. China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, while the Philippines maintains that the shoal is located inside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the waterway.

On Tuesday, China Coast Guard (CCG) ships and China Maritime Militia vessels were again attempting to block a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusting World War II-era navy ship that the Philippines grounded on the shoal to serve as its outpost in the disputed waters, Philippine officials said.

A CCG vessel early Tuesday morning “executed dangerous blocking maneuvers against the PCG vessel MRRV 4407, resulting in a minor collision and slight damage,” the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said in a statement.

About two hours later, two CCG vessels fired water cannons at the Filipino supply boat, Uniza May 4, “causing minor injuries to at least four personnel on board,” the task force added.

The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s name for South China Sea waters that lie within its EEZ.

The supply boat was forced to turn back, but its sister vessel, Uniza May 1, was able to reach the BRP Sierra Madre and complete the resupply mission, the task force said.

“The systematic and consistent manner in which the People’s Republic of China carries out illegal and irresponsible actions puts into question the sincerity of its calls for peaceful dialogue and lessening tensions,” it said.

Later in the day, the Philippines government summoned the Chinese deputy chief of mission in Manila to convey a diplomatic protest over the incident, said Philippine foreign affairs spokeswoman Ma. Teresita Daza.

“During the meeting, the Philippines stressed, among other [things], that China’s interference with the Philippines’ routine and lawful activities in its own exclusive economic zone is unacceptable,” she said.

“The Philippines demands that Chinese vessels leave the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal immediately.”

In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the Philippine vessels had  “intruded” into the waters of the shoal “without permission” from the Chinese government.

“[The] China Coast Guard took necessary measures toward Philippine vessels in accordance with [the] law. The actions taken at the scene were professional, restrained, justified and lawful,” Mao said.

“The Chinese Foreign Ministry has lodged serious representations to the Philippine side to express strong protest.”

The latest tense incident at sea occurred less than 24 hours after Enrique Manalo, the Philippines’ top diplomat, called for countries to respect the international rule of law in the South China Sea and other maritime regions.

“The shared stewardship of the seas and oceans in the region behooves us to unite in preserving the primacy of international law so we can ensure equitable and sustainable outcomes for all,” Manalo said Monday during a speech in Melbourne on the sidelines of a summit marking the 50th anniversary of relations between Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 

“It also calls for us to stand firmly together in opposing actions that contradict or are inconsistent with international law.”

‘Peacetime blockade’

Maritime security expert Ray Powell said China had demonstrated that it would enforce its blockade with violence.

“This incident – in which four Filipinos were injured aboard a civilian vessel on a legitimate resupply mission to a Philippine outpost within that country’s own exclusive economic zone – should awaken the outrage of the international community that proclaims its concern over the rules-based order,” Powell, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, told BenarNews.

“There is no other place on the planet in which one country is carrying out a peacetime blockade of another country’s outpost in broad daylight. This should invite more than mere finger-wagging from the international community.”

Last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Australian lawmakers that his administration would resist any effort by a foreign power to infringe upon the Philippines’ sovereignty.

“I shall never tire of repeating the declaration that I made from the first day that I took office: I will not allow any attempt by any foreign power to take even one square inch of our sovereign territory,” Marcos told Australian legislators, without naming China.

China lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea, but its claims overlap with those of Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

In 2016, the Philippines won a landmark case in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that threw out China’s expansive claims. Beijing, however, has ignored the ruling and carried on with its military expansionism in the strategic waterway, including building artificial islands.

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Marykay Carlson spoke out strongly against the latest incident in the South China Sea.

“We strongly condemn [China’s] dangerous maneuvers at Second Thomas Shoal, which endangered lives, resulted in injuries and damaged Philippine Coast Guard  vessels,” Carlson said.

“The U.S. stands with the Philippines and proponents of international law in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Jason Gutierrez and Jeoffrey Maitem in Manila contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.