Philippines says ‘no incidents’ during resupply mission at hot-spot reef in South China Sea

MANILA - The Philippines said it carried out a resupply and rotation mission to troops on a South China Sea reef on July 27 without “untoward incidents”, more than a month after a violent clash with Chinese forces in the area.

It said the mission to Second Thomas Shoal was the first since

Manila and Beijing reached a “provisional arrangement”

earlier in July for the delivery of daily necessities and rotation missions for Filipino troops based on a rusty warship grounded atop the reef.

The shoal has been a focus of clashes between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

A Filipino sailor lost a thumb in the latest June 17 confrontation when

Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe

foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply its troops.

“No untoward incidents were reported” after a civilian vessel, escorted by a Philippine Coast Guard boat, reprovisioned the BRP Sierra Madre and rotated troops there on July 27, a foreign department statement said.

China Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu confirmed that the Philippines had carried out a resupply mission “in accordance with the temporary arrangement reached between China and the Philippines”.

The two sides disagreed on the details of the mission, with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson saying “China had been notified of the resupply before it was carried out”.

“After confirming on-site that the Philippine vessel carried only humanitarian living necessities, the Chinese side let the Philippine vessel through,” the spokesperson added.

Philippine foreign department spokeswoman Teresita Daza told reporters on July 27 that Manila gave no prior notification to the Chinese side about the resupply mission, and there was no on-site inspection of the vessels.

“We were informed the Chinese coast guard vessels were at a reasonable distance with no risk of collision,” Ms Daza added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 26 called on the Philippines to “honour its commitments” under the deal, according to a readout of his meeting with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo at an Asean gathering in Laos.

Mr Manalo said he hoped Beijing would keep its side of the bargain.

“If the parties implement, and we hope China implements the agreement, then we’ll be able to resupply our military personnel on the ship without any obstruction,” he told reporters.

“I think that would be an important step forward in defusing tensions and hopefully lead to other areas of cooperation on the South China Sea.”

A handful of Filipino troops are stationed on the rusty Sierra Madre that was deliberately grounded on the shoal in 1999 to assert Manila’s claims to the area. They require frequent resupplies for food, water and other necessities as well as transport for personnel rotations.

The shoal lies about 200km from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 27

hit out at China’s “escalatory and unlawful actions”

in the South China Sea hours before he was due to hold talks with Mr Wang in Vientiane.

Washington and Asean had to work together to “address challenges”, Mr Blinken told ministers from the 10-member bloc, including China’s “escalatory and unlawful actions taken against the Philippines in the South China Sea over the last few months”. AFP