China slams Philippines over re-supply mission for troops on disputed atoll

Four Philippine ships were on a resupply mission to a disputed atoll in the South China Sea when China denounced the mission, claiming the ships had illegally entered Chinese seas in the Spratly Islands.

Despite attempts by China’s coast guard to obstruct it, the Philippines claimed on Wednesday that it had successfully transferred supplies to its troops stationed on a World War Two-era cargo ship-turned-military outpost on the atoll.

While China has broad claims in the South China Sea that are in contention with a number of its neighbours, relations with the Philippines have been particularly tense recently over the matter, especially since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president of the Philippines last year.

“Philippine supply ships and two coast guard ships entered the waters … in China’s Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government,” China Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu said a post on its website, using China’s name for the Spratly Islands.

The atoll in question is called Ayungin in the Philippines and Renai Reef in China. It is located 105 miles (109 km) off the Philippine island of Palawan and is also referred to as the Second Thomas Shoal.

The BRP Sierra Madre, a former navy transport ship that the Philippines grounded on the shoal in 1999 to support its claim of sovereignty, is home to a small number of Philippine troops.

The Philippe delivery of supplies to the ship that “sits on the beach” unlawfully was strongly condemned, the China Coast Guard stated in its statement, adding that it had issued serious warnings.

On September 8, the Philippines last finished a resupply mission to the stranded ship. The Philippines and its old ally, the United States, denounced a similar attempt in which a China Coast Guard vessel used water cannon to attack a Philippine supply boat.

China demanded that the Philippines tow the ship away, but Manila refused the request.

The Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia made a substantial number of attempts to “harass and interfere” with the Philippine National Security Council’s (NSC) resupply and rotation mission, but the mission was nonetheless successfully completed, according to the NSC.

“These missions are a legitimate exercise of the administrative functions of the Philippine government,” the NSC said.

China points to a line on its maps that enters the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia as evidence that it has jurisdiction over nearly the whole South China Sea. The line on China’s maps, according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, was not supported by law.

(With agency inputs)