Philippine military personnel deliberately provoke CCG law enforcement officers. Photo: courtesy of CCG

At around 9 am on Monday, while a small China Coast Guard (CCG) patrol vessel was conducting a routine patrol in waters near China's Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippine vessel No. 57, which was illegally grounded there, deployed two rubber boats, ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side, and approached and rammed the Chinese vessel in a dangerous manner. During the incident, Philippine personnel were the first to attack Chinese law enforcement personnel using paddles, long poles and other tools.

Video footage obtained by the Global Times on Monday showed that during the provocation, the Philippine side once again followed what it described as a pattern of "provocation, staged filming and portraying itself as a victim." Philippine military personnel drove rubber boats toward the Chinese vessel at high speed, forcing Chinese law enforcement personnel to take necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law. Philippine personnel aboard the illegally grounded vessel No. 57 then took out cameras to record the scene.

The footage was then transmitted back to the Philippines via Starlink, with the Philippine side allegedly editing the material by cutting out key parts of the incident and presenting a distorted version of events.

A violent incident in which a Philippine military rubber boat deliberately rammed a Chinese law enforcement vessel, while Philippine military personnel attacked Chinese law enforcement officers with paddles, poles and other objects, was "artistically edited" by selectively removing the beginning and end of the footage and then repackaged by the Philippine military as a so-called "tragedy."

However, China had already "anticipated the opponent's anticipation." Through various technical means, including ship-mounted and handheld optical equipment, China recorded the entire law enforcement operation from multiple angles, fully exposing the Philippine side's tactics of hyping up the incident.

In a statement released on Monday, the CCG demanded that the Philippines immediately stop infringement, provocation and false publicity. The CCG said it will continue to carry out law enforcement activities in accordance with the law in China's Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands), including Ren'ai Jiao, and their adjacent waters, and firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.