MANILA: Philippine forces transported food, fuel and new personnel to a territorial outpost in a long-disputed shoal i n the South China Sea, where Chinese government ships jammed communications during the hourslong supply mission as part of Beijing’s security practice in the far-flung atoll, two top officials in the Philippines said Tuesday.
The transport by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of supplies and a fresh batch of navy personnel to the Second Thomas Shoal was successfully “conducted without any untoward incident” Friday despite the presence of Chinese Coast Guard and other ships which have been guarding the periphery of the Philippines-occupied shoal for years, the officials told The Associated Press.
They did not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue a statement. They have previously claimed the fishing atoll and virtually the entire South China Sea and have repeatedly demanded the Philippines pull away a grounded warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, from the Second Thomas Shoal.
One of the officials said the Chinese Coast Guard jammed communications in and around the shoal while Philippine forces were delivering supplies to the Sierra Madre apparently to prevent possible drone surveillance by the United States and other foreign forces which have committed to help preserve the rule of law in the South China Sea, a key global trade route.
The Philippine military has carried out 12 such deliveries of supplies and new personnel without incident to the long-grounded Sierra Madre since last year. Confrontations have been averted after China and the Philippines signed a temporary nonaggression arrangement in July 2024 to prevent new confrontations in the fishing atoll, which both Asian countries have long claimed.
In August, however, China deployed more coast guard and suspected militia ships to the closely guarded shoal, including some with more powerful machine guns, backed by a helicopter and an unmanned surveillance drone.
At the time, a Chinese Coast Guard ship was spotted firing its powerful water cannon in an apparent drill or intimidating gesture and a Chinese boat came as close as 50 meters to the Sierra Madre. The Chinese vessel was blocked by two boatloads of Filipino forces from coming closer to the Filipino ship outpost, the Philippine military said.
The Philippine military deliberately grounded the Sierra Madre in the turquoise shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as a territorial outpost. China, which also claims the shoal, later surrounded the atoll with its ships.
The yearslong territorial standoff has caused frequent faceoffs between Philippine military supply boats and Chinese forces in the past until Filipino and Chinese diplomats forged the nonaggression arrangement last year covering the shoal, a landmark deal between two claimant Asian states.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping territorial claims in the sea passage. The US lays no claims to the waters but has repeatedly warned it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, aircraft and ships come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.