Philippines accuses China of ‘rockets targeting our plane’

(ANSA) – MANILA, AUGUST 24 – The Philippine government has accused China of launching rockets at one of its patrol planes in the South China Sea, near disputed islands between the two countries, on August 19. The government said in a statement. A Chinese fighter jet fired rockets “multiple times at dangerously close range” at a Philippine civilian patrol plane near Scarborough Reef, the statement said. The same plane was targeted three days later by rockets fired from the Chinese-controlled Subi Reef, it added. Beijing announced yesterday that it had taken “countermeasures” against Philippine military aircraft accused of entering its airspace over the South China Sea. China will continue “to firmly protect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and will firmly oppose any action that violates them,” the Foreign Ministry said. Beijing claims large parts of the islands and coral reefs in the South China Sea, including waters and islands near the coasts of several neighboring countries, and has ignored a 2016 international tribunal ruling that the claim has no legal basis. On Monday, Chinese- and Philippine-flagged vessels collided near the disputed Sabina Atoll, located 140 kilometers west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from the mainland island of Hainan. (ANSA).