China on Tuesday said that it was are ready to enhance communication with the Philippines on the investigation on the June 9 Recto Bank ramming of a Philippine fishing boat by a Chinese vessel.
“We are ready… [to] increase understanding, dispel mistrust and find out what actually happened” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, adding, “China attaches great importance to maritime safety.”
China also expressed its “sympathy to the Filipino fishermen who were in distress” and assured it would “continue to earnestly investigate into this matter.”
Lu also maintained that the incident was an “accidental collision” and that Filipino and Chinese fishermen “have long been friendly with each other, rendering mutual assistance to the best of their capabilities in times of need.”
Nevertheless, China called criticisms on the Recto Bank incident “irresponsible” and “counter-constructive,” and these were nothing more than “political interpretations” of the event.
On June 9, 22 Filipino crew were left at the Recto Bank, also known as the Reed Bank, off the western Philippine province of Palawan after their fishing boat was hit by a Chinese vessel causing it to founder.
Felony
President Rodrigo Duterte, who has adopted a friendly stance towards China, has refrained from publicly criticizing Beijing, but his spokesman Salvador Panelo called the incident “uncivilized and outrageous.”
Speaking before the United Nations on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. gave an account of the incident.
“The rescue of persons in distress is a universally recognized obligation of people and governments; and in civil law and, maybe even in common law, it is a felony to abandon people in distress, especially when we cause that distress; and more so when it is no bother at all to save them at no risk to oneself,” Locsin said.
A Department of Foreign Affairs statement said Locsin “was referring to the sinking by a Chinese vessel of a Philippine fishing vessel anchored in Recto Bank in Palawan, in the West Philippine Sea on 9 June 2019.”
“The 22 Filipino crew were left in the water until a Vietnamese vessel took them on board,” the DFA said in a statement.
A Vietnamese vessel rescued the Filipino crewmen of the sunken F/B Gim-Vir 1 and were later secured by a patrolling Philippine navy frigate.
In his speech, Locsin thanked Vietnam for “this act of mercy and decency.”
Manila has filed a diplomatic protest as Philippine officials strongly condemned the Chinese action.