ABOARD THE BRP CABRA – As a US military surveillance plane circled overhead, eight Chinese ships chased and briefly blocked four Philippine boats on a resupply mission to a tiny garrison in the hotly contested South China Sea.
The high seas cat-and-mouse game on Tuesday followed assurances from Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels patrolling the waters that Philippine boats would be allowed to deliver provisions to the remote outpost in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal “in the spirit of humanism.”
The Chinese radio operator, however, warned that the two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels escorting the two boats carrying supplies for Filipino marines stationed on a crumbling navy ship grounded atop the reef should leave or “bear full responsibility for all the consequences.”
A team of AFP journalists on board the BRP Cabra, one of the two PCG vessels, watched as the Chinese vessels chased, blocked and corralled the four Philippine vessels.
One of the CCG ships came within several meters of the Cabra.
Eventually, both supply boats reached the marooned BRP Sierra Madre and unloaded their cargo.
AFP was one of three media outlets given the rare opportunity to join the Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal, less than three weeks after CCG ships used water cannon against a similar resupply operation.
That incident last Aug. 5 prevented one of the Philippine resupply boats from unloading and sparked a diplomatic spat between Manila and Beijing.
There was widespread international criticism of the Chinese actions, but Beijing defended its behavior as “professional,” and accused Manila of “illegal delivery of construction materials” to the grounded ship.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, and has ignored an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims to parts of the sea.
China deploys hundreds of vessels to patrol the South China Sea and its reefs and, according to Manila, the CCG and navy ships routinely block or shadow Philippine boats there.
Ayungin Shoal is about 200 kilometers from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
The Philippine Navy deliberately grounded the World War II-era BRP Sierra Madre on the reef in 1999 to check China’s advance in the waters.
‘We don’t need permission’
As this week’s resupply mission got underway last Monday, Chinese vessels patrolling the South China Sea appeared to be maneuvering into position soon after the boats left Palawan.
PCG vessels joined up with the two resupply boats in Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, claimed by Manila, last Monday evening, as more than a dozen Chinese boats, including a coast guard ship, floated nearby.
The lone CCG vessel trailed the Philippine vessels as the resupply mission sailed through the night for the final 60-kilometer leg of their journey to Ayungin Shoal.
It was joined by another three CCG ships soon after daybreak last Tuesday, sailing alongside the resupply mission.
The voice of a radio operator on board one of the CCG ships crackled over the airwaves a short time later, declaring China’s “indisputable authority” over the Spratly Islands.
“In the spirit of humanism, we only permit your ship carrying food and other necessary living materials and the rotating personnel without construction materials to the illegally grounded vessel,” the voice said.
Filipino troops stationed on the rusting hulk depend upon the supplies for survival.
While the latest resupply mission was successful, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela told reporters yesterday that the Chinese ships, including “maritime militia,” had used “a lot of dangerous maneuvers” to harass the Philippine vessels.
Tarriela dismissed the CCG’s claims of “humanitarian consideration” in allowing the delivery of supplies.
“We don’t need permission from anybody,” he said.
Lying
China allegedly lied when it was implied that it allowed the successful resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre last Tuesday, according to Tarriela.
“That is not true, that they just allowed the path of the supply boats to enter the Ayungin Shoal… It is not just the PCG vessels they are blocking, even the supply boats that we are using to deliver the supplies were blocked, intercepted by CCG vessels,” he said in an interview aired over ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.
“They are lying when they said they are extending humanitarian consideration,” he added.
In an interview, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said that there has never been a problem with the delivery of humanitarian supplies because there is a special arrangement for such cargoes.
Tarriela, however, narrated that last Tuesday, four CCG vessels and four Chinese maritime militia ships again attempted to stand in their way as they were going to Ayungin Shoal, where the dilapidated BRP Sierra Madre remains aground.
He pointed out that for five hours, from the time they left Escoda Shoal at 3 a.m. last Tuesday and started their voyage to Ayungin Shoal, CCG vessel 3302 was already tailing the two PCG vessels – BRP Cabra and BRP Sindangan – as well as the two supply ships Unaizah May 1 and Unaizah May 2.
At around 8:30 a.m. when they were already at a distance of 2.5 nautical miles from the entrance of Ayungin Shoal, three other CCG vessels – namely 5305, 21551 and 21556 – and four Chinese maritime militia vessels were seen and reportedly attempted to stop them from reaching their destination.
The Chinese vessels “carried out a lot of maneuvers to separate the PCG from the supply boats, and they made sure that we would have a hard time entering the shoal,” according to Tarriela.
He credited the seamanship skills of the skippers of the two PCG vessels that served as the escorts, as well as the two supply boats used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to deliver the supplies, that enabled them to outmaneuver the Chinese ships and complete the mission.
Better behavior
CCG and maritime militia vessels, after being subjected to international criticism over the Aug. 5 water cannon attack, behaved better when the AFP again sent a rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea last Tuesday.
China’s military and civilian boats, however, still shadowed the vessels bringing food and supplies to soldiers stationed at the grounded BRP Sierra Madre and positioned themselves in the area the whole time.
“In fairness to them, I would say that there is change in the behavior if you are to compare what happened on Aug. 5 to what happened yesterday (Tuesday),” AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said at a Laging Handa public briefing.
“They were not so aggressive. Probably, they learned their lesson, they learned the lesson that violence has no place in this world, especially if that violence is founded on something that is not acceptable to the international community and that violence is doing, to encroach or to subvert or to, shall we say, suppress, the rightful expression of rights of other countries,” Aguilar added.
Fully coordinated
Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Manila yesterday gave assurance that all US military activities in the country are fully coordinated with Philippine authorities before they are carried out.
Such assurance was made amid reports that a US Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance and surveillance plane was observed flying above the Ayungin Shoal area last Tuesday as the AFP was conducting its resupply mission to troops stationed at the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in the West Philippine Sea.
Asked about the aircraft’s alleged presence in the area, US embassy spokesman Kanishka Gangopadhyay said he could not speak about mission specifics.
“What I can say is that all of our military activities in the Philippines are conducted in full coordination with our Philippine allies,” Gangopadhyay added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has reiterated its earlier statement that rotation and resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre are legitimate and routine activities inside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
“The Philippines’ exercise of its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction within our maritime zones is not subject to any other country’s approval. This is the norm,” DFA spokesperson Maria Teresita Daza said. – AFP, Michael Punongbayan