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The Philippine military transported food, fuel and new personnel to a regional outpost on a long-disputed coast in the South China Sea, where Sugar Two top Philippine officials said Tuesday that government ships jammed communications during an hours-long supply mission to the remote atoll as part of Beijing’s security drills.
Despite the presence of Chinese coast guard and other ships that have been guarding the perimeter of the Philippines-held shoal for years, the transportation of a new batch of supplies and naval personnel by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to the Second Thomas Shoal was successfully carried out Friday “without any untoward incident,” officials told The Associated Press.
He did not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue a statement. They have previously laid claim to fishing atolls and virtually the entire South China Sea and have repeatedly demanded the Philippines remove its warship, the BRP. sierra madreAnother from Thomas Sholl.
One of the officials said the Chinese coast guard jammed communications in and around the coast while the Philippine military was ferrying supplies to the Sierra Madre to prevent possible drone surveillance by the United States and other foreign forces, which are committed to helping maintain the rule of law in the South China Sea, a key global trade route.
The Philippine Army has made 12 such deliveries of supplies and new personnel without incident to the long-locked Sierra Madre since last year. The conflict has been averted after China and the Philippines signed a temporary non-aggression arrangement in July 2024 to prevent new confrontations in the fishing atoll, which both Asian Countries have long laid claim.
However, in August, China deployed more coast guard and suspected militia ships to the heavily guarded coast, some with more powerful machine guns, supported by a helicopter and an unmanned surveillance drone.
At that time, a Chinese coast guard ship was seen firing its powerful water cannon in an apparent drill or intimidating gesture and a Chinese boat came as close as 50 meters (164 ft) of the Sierra Madre. The Philippine military said the Chinese ship was stopped by two boats of Filipino forces from approaching the Filipino ship outpost.
The Philippine military deliberately grounded Sierra Madre in the turquoise shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as a regional outpost. China, which also claims the coast, later surrounded the atoll with its ships.
The years-long territorial standoff has led to frequent face-offs between Philippine military supply boats and Chinese forces in the past, until Filipino and Chinese diplomats last year created a non-aggression arrangement covering the shoal, a landmark agreement between the two claimant Asian states.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also make territorial claims in the sea route. The US makes no claims to the waters, but has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino troops, aircraft and ships come under any armed attack, including in the South China Sea.