MANILA: The Philippines insisted on Monday that it had not given up a South China Sea reef, two days after it pulled out a ship stationed there following a months-long standoff with rival claimant China.
Manila had deployed the coast guard flagship BRP Teresa Magbanua to Sabina Shoal in April to stop Beijing from building an artificial island there, as it has atop several other disputed features in the strategic waterway.
But the ship was abruptly called back to the western Philippine island of Palawan, with Manila citing damage from an earlier clash with Chinese ships, ailing crew members, dwindling food and bad weather.
“We have not lost anything. We did not abandon anything. Escoda Shoal is still part of our exclusive economic zone,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela told a news conference Monday, using the Filipino name for Sabina Shoal.
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including Sabina Shoal, despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no merit.
It has acted aggressively toward Philippine government vessels at Sabina and other disputed features in recent months, ramming, blocking, water-cannoning and even boarding them, causing damage and injuries.
The confrontations have sparked concern that the United States, a military ally of Manila, could be drawn into armed conflict with China.
With the Chinese harassing resupply missions, Tarriela said it came to a point that the BRP Teresa Magbanua’s water desalinator broke down, forcing the crew to rely on rainwater for drinking “for more than one month now.”
He said the crew were also reduced to “eating porridge for three weeks,” which “obviously is not nutritious.”
Following the ship’s pullout, China’s coast guard insisted on Sunday that Beijing “has indisputable sovereignty” over Sabina.
It warned the Philippines to “stop inciting propaganda and risking infringements,” adding Beijing would “continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities” there.
But Tarriela on Monday maintained the withdrawal from Sabina was “not a defeat,” rejecting comparisons to the Scarborough Shoal, which Manila lost to Beijing after a similar months-long standoff in 2012.
He said it would be “impossible” for China to totally stop the Philippines from sending its ships around the 137-square-kilometer (53-square-mile) Sabina Shoal.
“The coast guard can carry out whatever it takes for us to make sure that China will not be able to occupy and even reclaim Escoda Shoal,” he said.
“We have other coast guard vessels that, as we speak right now, may have been or may already be proceeding to Escoda Shoal,” Tarriela said without providing details, citing operational security considerations.
Sabina is located 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese landmass.
Philippines says ‘we have not lost’ South China Sea reef after pullout
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Philippines says ‘we have not lost’ South China Sea reef after pullout
- Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including Sabina Shoal, despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no merit
China congratulates Tanzania for ‘successful conduct’ of elections
- “China reiterated its full confidence in Tanzania’s leadership and institutions to manage internal affairs independently,” they added
DAR ES SALAM: China’s top diplomat has warned against foreign interference in Tanzania as he ended a visit where he avoided any mention of the political violence that has soured the East African country’s relations with the West.
Wang Yi is the first foreign minister to pay an official visit to Tanzania since the bloody crackdown on election protesters late last year.
The Tanzanian opposition says at least 2,000 people were killed by security forces following the Oct. 29 legislative and presidential elections which international observers deemed fraudulent.
China, which has invested heavily in Tanzania in recent years, did not comment on the crackdown that sparked a wave of global criticism.
In a statement shared after the visit, Tanzanian authorities said Wang had congratulated the country for the “successful conduct” of the elections.
“China reiterated its full confidence in Tanzania’s leadership and institutions to manage internal affairs independently,” they added.
Meanwhile, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Beijing “opposes any external force interfering in Tanzania’s internal affairs” and stressed its support for the country’s “national sovereignty and security.”
Wang also met Tanzanian leader Samia Suluhu Hassan, who retained the presidency last year with 98 percent of the vote.
He “reaffirmed China’s firm support for Tanzania” during the meeting, a Tanzanian presidency statement said.
The statement pledged to strengthen cooperation and noted a rise in trade between the two countries over the last five years, “thanks to China’s policy of opening its markets to Africa.”
China has beefed up its investments in the country’s low-tax special economic zones, where 343 Chinese-funded projects worth $3.1 billion were registered in 2025 alone, according to the Tanzanian Foreign Ministry. After Tanzania, Wang is expected to continue his African tour in Lesotho.
