China yesterday said it had “supervised” a Philippine ship as it delivered supplies to a grounded vessel at a disputed reef in the South China Sea, after a string of tense encounters in the area this year.
Beijing claims almost all of the economically vital waterway and continues to press its assertions there, despite an international tribunal ruling that they have no legal basis.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have flared in recent months during a series of confrontations in the waters around the contested Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) and Sabina Shoal.
Photo: Reuters
However, in July, the two sides said they had reached a provisional deal on resupply missions to a Philippine ship, the Sierra Madre, which is grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal with a garrison on board, aimed at asserting Manila’s claims to the reef.
The China Coast Guard yesterday said that Manila had conducted a resupply mission “in accordance with the provisional agreement.”
The civilian vessel “delivered daily necessities to the illegally ‘grounded’ warship on Renai Reef,” China Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun (劉德軍) said.
Liu said the coast guard “questioned and confirmed the [identity of the] Philippine vessel and supervised the whole process.”
“It is hoped that the Philippines will keep its promise, meet China halfway, and jointly control the maritime situation,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Philippine armed forces confirmed that Manila “was able to deliver essential supplies to our troops in the area”.
“We confirm the presence of Chinese vessels in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal during our execution of [the] mission,” Colonel Francel Padilla said, using the Filipino term for the reef.
“Up to eight different Chinese vessels were monitored in the vicinity, but posed no threat,” she said.
“We remain vigilant and prepared to respond to any challenges in protecting our personnel and operations,” Padilla added
In June, a Filipino sailor lost a thumb in a confrontation near the Second Thomas Shoal when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply its troops.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have collided at least three times recently near Sabina Shoal, 140km from the Philippine western island of Palawan and 1,200km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
Another Philippine vessel, the Teresa Magbanua, was anchored on that shoal in April to assert Manila’s claims, but left the area this month.
The China Coast Guard did not mention Sabina Shoal in yesterday’s statement, but said it would continue to enforce “rights protection” around the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), of which the reef is a part.
After the Teresa Magbanua’s departure, Beijing said its sovereignty over the shoal was “indisputable”.
In Manila, the Philippine armed forces said the resupply mission to the Sierra Madre had been supported by the country’s coast guard.
Essential supplies and provisions were delivered, easing the way for troop rotation, it said in a statement, vowing to persevere with its mandates in the West Philippine Sea, providing full support and care for troops stationed there.
Additional reporting by Reuters
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver