Chinese ship jams communications as Filipino forces deliver supplies to Philippines-occupied shoal
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine forces transported food, fuel and new personnel to an outpost in the area. long-discussed shoal i Two senior officials in the Philippines said Tuesday in the South China Sea, where communications were disrupted during an hours-long supply mission by Chinese government ships as part of Beijing’s security enforcement at the far-flung atoll.
The move of supplies and a new group of navy personnel by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to Second Thomas Shoal was carried out successfully on Friday “without any untoward incidents” despite the presence of the Chinese Coast Guard and other ships guarding the perimeter of the shallow area occupied by the Philippines for years, officials told The Associated Press.
They did not go into detail due to the sensitivity of the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Chinese officials did not immediately comment. They had previously captured the fishing island and almost all of it. South China Sea and we have repeatedly requested that the Philippines withdraw a grounded warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, from Second Thomas Shoal.
The Chinese Coast Guard blocked communications in and around the shoal, one of the officials said, while Philippine forces delivered supplies to the Sierra Madre, apparently to prevent possible drone surveillance by the United States and other foreign forces committed to helping maintain the rule of law in the South China Sea, a key global trade route.
The Philippine army has delivered 12 supplies and new personnel to Sierra Madre, which has been on land for a long time, without incident since last year. Conflicts were prevented after the agreement signed by China and the Philippines interim non-aggression agreement in July 2024 to prevent new conflicts on the fishing islands that both Asian countries have long claimed.
But in August, China deployed more coast guard and suspected militia ships to the closely guarded shoal; some of these had more powerful machine guns and were supported by helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft.
At that time, a Chinese Coast Guard ship was seen firing its powerful water cannon in an apparent exercise or intimidating gesture, and a Chinese boat was seen coming within 50 meters (164 feet) of the Sierra Madre. The Philippine military said the Chinese ship was blocked from approaching the Philippine shipping outpost by two boatloads of Filipino forces.
The Philippine military deliberately grounded the Sierra Madre in the turquoise shallows of Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as a regional outpost. China, which also claimed rights over the sanctuary, later surrounded the atoll with its ships.
Regional separation that has been going on for years, frequent encounters In the past, there were many disputes between Philippine military supply ships and Chinese forces until Filipino and Chinese diplomats made the coastal non-aggression arrangement last year; this was a landmark agreement between two Asian claimant states.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping territorial claims on the sea passage. The United States has no claims to the waters but has repeatedly warned that it must defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Philippine forces, planes and ships come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
