New Delhi: Armed with crude melee weapons like their compatriots in the Galwan Valley in 2020, the Chinese Coast Guard this week rammed and boarded Philippine Navy boats, leading to a violent confrontation in which a sailor lost a thumb.
The Chinese were carrying spears, swords and knives, Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner Jr said as he addressed the media Wednesday about the incident off Second Thomas Shoal.
In 2020, pictures had emerged of Chinese soldiers carrying rifles and iron rods with machete-like heads in the vicinity of India’s forward locations on the southern bank of Pangong Tso.
Sources had then said that these were possibly ‘dah’, a crude weapon intended to work like a spear.
The Chinese troops had also carried clubs, and at one point, tried to provoke the Indians into action by trying to move ahead with crude weapons.
China has defended its actions against the Philippines, saying Wednesday that “no direct measures” were taken against Philippine personnel, media reports said.
However, Brawner — who described the incident after visiting the injured sailor in Palawan — said Philippine personnel had fought back with their “bare hands” after Chinese Coast Guard personnel from eight vessels boarded their rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
“They took guns and other equipment, destroyed our equipment on board, including the motors. They punctured our rigid-hulled inflatable boats,” he was quoted as saying.
“We are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment and we are also demanding from them to pay for the damages that they have caused,” Brawner said.
“For me, this is piracy.”
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