The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday vowed to “do whatever it takes” to remove any more floating barriers installed by China at a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
The remarks came after an aerial inspection of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) on Thursday confirmed a 300m barrier that ignited the latest diplomatic row between Beijing and Manila had been taken away.
Agence France-Presse journalists were on board a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ plane as it flew over the reef and saw access to its shallow waters unblocked.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The floating barrier was found across the entrance to the shoal last week during a routine Philippine government resupply mission to Filipino fishers.
In a special operation ordered by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Philippine Coast Guard personnel cut a rope tethering the barrier to an anchor, allowing it to drift.
“In the next coming months, if ever that barrier will once again be in place, the Philippine Coast Guard will do whatever it takes for us to remove the barrier,” coast guard spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela told reporters, as he sat next to the anchor seized during the mission.
Photo: AFP
In his first public remarks on the incident, Marcos yesterday said that his government was “not looking for trouble.”
However, he said it would “continue to defend the Philippines, the maritime territory of the Philippines, the rights of our fishermen to ply their trade in the areas where they have been fishing for hundreds of years.”
Earlier this week, China warned the Philippines not to “stir up trouble” over the incident that has ignited a war of words between the countries.
China Coast Guard on Wednesday said it had deployed the line of buoys after the Philippine vessel’s “intrusion into the lagoon” and removed them on Saturday.
“The on-site operation was professional and standard, legitimate and rational,” spokesman Gan Yu said (甘羽) in a statement.
China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, seized Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012.
Since then, Beijing has deployed patrol boats that Manila says harass Philippine vessels and prevent Filipino fishers from reaching the lagoon where fish are more plentiful.
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