Philippines says China shot flares at its South China Sea plane

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government accused China on Saturday of firing flares at one of its aircraft as it flew patrols over the South China Sea this month.

Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a Filipino military ally.

A Chinese fighter jet "engaged in irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers" on August 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane made a "maritime domain awareness flight" near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.

The unprovoked Chinese "harassment" included "deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 meters from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft", the task force added in a statement.

Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was "monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas" of the Philippines, it added.

Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday that two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef, which Manila also claims, on August 22.

The Chinese side undertook "necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security", it said in a statement.

The Philippine government said the BFAR plane was a civilian Cessna aircraft.

The Chinese statement did not mention any August 19 incident over Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines at the end of a 2012 standoff.

The Scarborough Shoal incident occurred hours after Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels collided near Sabina Shoal, with the Filipino side reporting structural damage on both of its patrol ships.

The shoal is located 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest Chinese landmass.

The Philippines