The Philippines said it carried out a resupply and rotation mission to troops on a South China Sea reef on Saturday 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 this month 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 coastguard 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 Saturday, a foreign department statement said.
China coastguard 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 Chinese coastguard acknowledged and supervised the whole process,” Gan said in a statement.
“We hope that the Philippines will honour its commitment and work with China to find consensus and properly manage the maritime situation.”
China’s foreign ministry has suggested it required the Philippines to give Beijing “prior notification” and verification of deliveries, which Manila had promptly rejected.
China, Philippines differ over deal to stop clashes at fiercely disputed shoal
Philippine foreign department spokeswoman Teresita Daza told reporters on Saturday 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 coastguard vessels were at a reasonable distance with no risk of collision,” Daza added.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday 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.
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 diffusing 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 (120 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major land mass, Hainan island.