The Philippines on Friday rejected a Chinese demand that it remove a grounded Philippine navy ship from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, saying the vessel is a permanent government outpost.
China’s coast guard prevented two Philippine civilian vessels from delivering supplies to the rusting ship at the Second Thomas Shoal — which is also claimed by Taiwan, where it is known as Renai Shoal (仁愛暗沙) — on Sunday last week, escalating tensions in the area.
The Philippines and the US have called Beijing’s action provocative. The shoal is called Ayungin in the Philippines.
The ship “was placed in Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a permanent Philippine government installation in response to China’s illegal occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995,” US Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement on Friday.
Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) is another Philippine-claimed outcropping in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea.
“The Philippines reiterates that Ayungin Shoal is part of its continental shelf over which the Philippines has sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” Hernandez said.
Philippine officials have previously said the military hospital ship ran aground in 1999 on the shallow coral reef and could not be removed because of a lack of funds and capability. Friday’s statement was the first acknowledgement that the ship was deliberately sent to the shoal as a Philippine government outpost.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, resource-rich waters where other nations, including Taiwan, have claims.
On Thursday, a Philippine security official said its navy would send supplies on other vessels to soldiers on the grounded ship.
“It’s not that we’re trying to court China’s ire. We do not want to starve our people to death,” said the official, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
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