MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipino forces transported food, fuel and new personnel Friday to a Philippine territorial outpost in a fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea despite tensions flaring recently at the atoll after China staged water cannon drills and deployed additional coast guard and suspected militia vessels, two Philippine officials said.
Two Philippine security officials told The Associated Press that a new Armed Forces of the Philippines delivery of supplies and navy and marine
personnel to the Second Thomas Shoal was successfully “completed without any untoward incident” Friday. The officials did not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
One of the officials said the delivery was postponed for a few weeks to ensure its security and success.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue a statement. They have previously claimed the fishing atoll and virtually the entire South China Sea in the past and have repeatedly demanded the Philippines pull a grounded warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, from the Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine military has carried out at least nine such deliveries of supplies and new batches of navy and marine personnel without incident to the long-grounded ship, the BRP Sierra Madre. Confrontations were averted after Beijing and Manila signing a temporary nonaggression deal in July 2024 to prevent new confrontations at the fishing atoll.
Last month, however, China deployed several more coast guard and suspected militia ships to the closely guarded shoal, including some with more powerful machine guns, backed by a helicopter and an unmanned surveillance drone.
A Chinese coast guard ship was spotted firing its powerful water cannon in an apparent drill or intimidating gesture and a Chinese boat came as close as 50 meters (164 feet) to the Sierra Madre. The Chinese vessel was blocked by two boatloads of Filipino forces from coming closer to the ship outpost, the Philippine military said.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro condemned the Chinese forces' actions at Second Thomas Shoal, which lies within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone, and said the Philippines would stand up against such “gross violations of international law.”
There have been concerns a new attempt by the Philippine military to deliver fresh supplies to the Sierra Madre may be blocked by the beefed-up Chinese forces.
The Philippines deliberately beached the Sierra Madre in the shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as a territorial outpost. China, which also claims the shoal, later surrounded the atoll with its ships.
The long-unresolved territorial standoff has caused frequent faceoffs between Philippine military supply boats and Chinese forces until diplomats forged the nonaggression arrangement last year covering the shoal, a landmark deal between two claimant states.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping territorial claims in the strategic sea passage, a key global trade route. The U.S. lays no claims to the waters but has repeatedly warned it is obligated to comply with a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty covering Filipino forces in the South China Sea.
