MANILA: The Philippines insisted on Monday that it had not given up a South China Sea reef, two days after it pulled out a ship stationed there following a months-long standoff with rival claimant China.
Manila had deployed the coast guard flagship BRP Teresa Magbanua to Sabina Shoal in April to cease Beijing from constructing a synthetic island there, because it has atop a number of different disputed options within the strategic waterway.
However the ship was abruptly referred to as again to the western Philippine island of Palawan, with Manila citing injury from an earlier conflict with Chinese language ships, ailing crew members, dwindling meals and unhealthy climate.
“We have now not misplaced something. We didn’t abandon something. Escoda Shoal continues to be a part of our unique financial zone,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela advised a information convention Monday, utilizing the Filipino title for Sabina Shoal.
Beijing claims a lot of the South China Sea, together with Sabina Shoal, regardless of a global tribunal ruling that its assertions don’t have any benefit.
It has acted aggressively in the direction of Philippine authorities vessels at Sabina and different disputed options in current months, ramming, blocking, water-cannoning and even boarding them, inflicting injury and accidents.
The confrontations have sparked concern that the USA, a army ally of Manila, may very well be drawn into armed battle with China.
With the Chinese language harassing resupply missions, Tarriela mentioned it got here to a degree that the BRP Teresa Magbanua’s water desalinator broke down, forcing the crew to depend on rainwater for consuming “for multiple month now”.
He mentioned the crew had been additionally decreased to “consuming porridge for 3 weeks”, which “clearly just isn’t nutritious”.
Following the ship’s pullout, China’s coast guard insisted on Sunday that Beijing “has indeniable sovereignty” over Sabina.
It warned the Philippines to “cease inciting propaganda and risking infringements”, including Beijing would “proceed to hold out rights safety and regulation enforcement actions” there.
However Tarriela on Monday maintained the withdrawal from Sabina was “not a defeat”, rejecting comparisons to the Scarborough Shoal, which Manila misplaced to Beijing after an identical months-long standoff in 2012.
He mentioned it will be “not possible” for China to completely cease the Philippines from sending its ships across the 137-square-kilometre (53-square-mile) Sabina Shoal.
“The coast guard can perform no matter it takes for us to make it possible for China will be unable to occupy and even reclaim Escoda Shoal,” he mentioned.
“We have now different coast guard vessels that, as we converse proper now, could have been or could already be continuing to Escoda Shoal,” Tarriela mentioned with out offering particulars, citing operational safety concerns.
Sabina is situated 140 kilometres (86 miles) west of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometres from Hainan island, the closest main Chinese language landmass.
Manila had deployed the coast guard flagship BRP Teresa Magbanua to Sabina Shoal in April to cease Beijing from constructing a synthetic island there, because it has atop a number of different disputed options within the strategic waterway.
However the ship was abruptly referred to as again to the western Philippine island of Palawan, with Manila citing injury from an earlier conflict with Chinese language ships, ailing crew members, dwindling meals and unhealthy climate.
“We have now not misplaced something. We didn’t abandon something. Escoda Shoal continues to be a part of our unique financial zone,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela advised a information convention Monday, utilizing the Filipino title for Sabina Shoal.
Beijing claims a lot of the South China Sea, together with Sabina Shoal, regardless of a global tribunal ruling that its assertions don’t have any benefit.
It has acted aggressively in the direction of Philippine authorities vessels at Sabina and different disputed options in current months, ramming, blocking, water-cannoning and even boarding them, inflicting injury and accidents.
The confrontations have sparked concern that the USA, a army ally of Manila, may very well be drawn into armed battle with China.
With the Chinese language harassing resupply missions, Tarriela mentioned it got here to a degree that the BRP Teresa Magbanua’s water desalinator broke down, forcing the crew to depend on rainwater for consuming “for multiple month now”.
He mentioned the crew had been additionally decreased to “consuming porridge for 3 weeks”, which “clearly just isn’t nutritious”.
Following the ship’s pullout, China’s coast guard insisted on Sunday that Beijing “has indeniable sovereignty” over Sabina.
It warned the Philippines to “cease inciting propaganda and risking infringements”, including Beijing would “proceed to hold out rights safety and regulation enforcement actions” there.
However Tarriela on Monday maintained the withdrawal from Sabina was “not a defeat”, rejecting comparisons to the Scarborough Shoal, which Manila misplaced to Beijing after an identical months-long standoff in 2012.
He mentioned it will be “not possible” for China to completely cease the Philippines from sending its ships across the 137-square-kilometre (53-square-mile) Sabina Shoal.
“The coast guard can perform no matter it takes for us to make it possible for China will be unable to occupy and even reclaim Escoda Shoal,” he mentioned.
“We have now different coast guard vessels that, as we converse proper now, could have been or could already be continuing to Escoda Shoal,” Tarriela mentioned with out offering particulars, citing operational safety concerns.
Sabina is situated 140 kilometres (86 miles) west of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometres from Hainan island, the closest main Chinese language landmass.
