The Philippine navy transported food and other supplies to a territorial ship outpost in a shoal in the South China Sea without any confrontation with Chinese forces guarding the disputed area, officials said Friday.
The Philippine delivery of supplies and military personnel on Thursday to the Second Thomas Shoal was the third such trip that did not lead to any confrontation since July, when both sides signed a rare deal to stop an alarming spike in violent confrontations.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines continues to uphold its mandate of safeguarding Philippine sovereignty and ensuring the welfare of its stationed personnel in the West Philippine Sea,” military spokesperson colonel Xerxes Trinidad said, using the Philippine name for the South China Sea.
“There were no untoward incidents during the mission,” Trinidad said.
The Philippines occupied the shoal by permanently beaching a navy ship in its shallows in 1999, prompting China, which also claims it, to surround the atoll with its coastguard and naval forces in what has been a continuing territorial stand-off.
Called Ayungin by the Philippines and Ren’ai Jiao by China, the shoal had been the most dangerous flashpoint in the South China Sea and became the scene of increasingly violent confrontations starting last year that alarmed other governments, led by the United States.
The deal, which has not been made public, outlines a temporary arrangement that lets the Philippines transport supplies and fresh batches of Filipino forces to Manila’s ship outpost without clashing with China’s coastguard, navy and suspected militia ships guarding the shoal.
