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Philippines Says China's South China Sea Moves 'Aggressive, Unprofessional and Illegal'

FILE - In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, uses its water cannons on a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, as it approaches Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, uses its water cannons on a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, as it approaches Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP, File)
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Philippines Says China's South China Sea Moves 'Aggressive, Unprofessional and Illegal'

FILE - In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, uses its water cannons on a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, as it approaches Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, uses its water cannons on a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, as it approaches Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP, File)

The Philippine government slammed China on Monday for "repeated aggressive, unprofessional and illegal" actions in the South China Sea after a string of clashes and incidents on air and at sea over the past week.
The Philippines' national maritime council said Chinese aircraft made unsafe maneuvers against a civilian aircraft conducting patrols over the Scarborough shoal and Subi reef, Reuters said.
On Sunday, Chinese vessels also "blocked, rammed and fired water cannons" against a government fisheries vessel while doing a resupply mission to Filipino fishermen in Sabina shoal, it said.
These actions are "alarming", the maritime council said in a statement.
"It calls into question China’s supposed commitment to de-escalate the situation in the area and create a conducive environment for dialogue and consultation," the council said.
The Philippines added it will continue to pursue diplomacy in managing maritime issues, and urged China "to return to the path of constructive dialogue" on South China Sea matters.
Philippine Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro separately said on Monday that China's actions were "patently illegal" following the clash near Sabina shoal
"We have to expect these kinds of behavior from China because this is a struggle. We have to be ready to anticipate and to get used to these kinds of acts of China which are patently illegal as we have repeatedly said," Teodoro told reporters.
In the incident at Sabina shoal, Manila's South China Sea task force accused Chinese vessels of ramming and using water cannons against a Philippine fisheries vessel transporting food, fuel and medicine for Filipino fishermen.
The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessel "ignored repeated serious warnings and deliberately approached and rammed" China's law enforcement boat, resulting in a collision.
Asked if the latest incident would trigger treaty obligations between the United States and the Philippines, Teodoro said: "That is putting the cart before the horse. Let us deter an armed attack, that is the more important thing."
The Philippines and the United States have a mutual defense treaty and Washington has vowed to aid the Philippines against armed attacks on its vessels and soldiers in the South China Sea.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monday is a public holiday in the Philippines.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, including areas claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei.
An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruled that China's claim had no basis under international law, a decision Beijing has rejected.

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Militant Attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan Kill 39

Pakistani security officials stand guard following an attack by criminal gangs, in Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab province, Pakistan, 23 August 2024. EPA/FAISAL KAREEM
Pakistani security officials stand guard following an attack by criminal gangs, in Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab province, Pakistan, 23 August 2024. EPA/FAISAL KAREEM
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Militant Attacks in Pakistan's Balochistan Kill 39

Pakistani security officials stand guard following an attack by criminal gangs, in Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab province, Pakistan, 23 August 2024. EPA/FAISAL KAREEM
Pakistani security officials stand guard following an attack by criminal gangs, in Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab province, Pakistan, 23 August 2024. EPA/FAISAL KAREEM

Separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and vehicles on highways in Pakistan's province of Balochistan, killing at least 39 people, officials said on Monday, in the most widespread assault by ethnic insurgents in years.
Militants have fought a decades-long ethnic insurgency to demand the secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to a number of major China-led projects including a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
The largest of the attacks targeted vehicles from buses to goods trucks on a major highway, killing at least 23 people, officials said, with ten vehicles set ablaze.
A rail line between Pakistan and Iran and a railway bridge linking Quetta, the provincial capital, to the rest of the country were also hit with explosives during the attacks, railways official Muhammad Kashif said, adding that rail traffic with Quetta had been suspended, Reuters said.
Police said they had found six bodies that have yet to be identified, near the attack on the railway bridge.
Militants also targeted police and security stations in the sprawling province, officials said, one of which killed at least 10 people.
Militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility in a statement emailed to journalists that claimed many more attacks, including one on a major paramilitary base, though Pakistani authorities have yet to confirm these.
PASSENGERS KILLED
On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, marched passengers off the vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai, told Reuters.
"The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal," said Hameed Zahir, the deputy commissioner of the area, adding that at least 10 trucks had been set on fire after their drivers were killed.
Militants have targeted workers from the eastern province of Punjab whom they see as exploiting their resources. In the past, they have also targeted Chinese interests and citizens operating in the province.
China runs the strategic deepwater port of Gawadar in Balochistan's south, as well as a gold and copper mine in the west.
The BLA said its fighters had targeted military personnel traveling in civilian clothes, who were shot after being identified.
Pakistan's interior ministry said the dead were innocent citizens.
STATIONS ATTACKED
Six security personnel, three civilians and one tribal elder made up the ten killed in clashes with armed militants who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti said.
Officials said police stations had also been attacked in the two southern coastal towns, but the toll had yet to be confirmed.
The office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attacks in a statement, vowing that security forces would retaliate and bring those responsible to justice.
Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan's largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty.