A convoy of boats carrying Filipino civilians carrying supplies to Filipino fishermen has abandoned plans to sail closer to a Chinese-controlled reef off the coast of Southeast Asia, organizers said Thursday, after one in all their boats was “repeatedly followed” by a Chinese ship.
“Atin Ito will now proceed to the final stage of distributing supplies in the current area as there are no Filipino fishermen left in BdM after they were reportedly sent away by various Chinese vessels,” non-governmental coalition spokesman Emman Hizon told reporters on Thursday, using an acronym for the disputed name sandbar known to Filipinos as Bajo de Masinloc.
The convoy learned over the radio from fishermen in boats in the realm “that they’d been driven away by the Chinese,” Hizon said.
However, he said that a day earlier, the group’s “relief team” had distributed fuel and other aid to Filipino fishermen about 46-56 km (29-35 miles) from the shallows, declaring “mission completed.”
The rescue team’s boat that returned to a Philippine port on Thursday morning “was in a position to distribute aid despite constant tracking by the Chinese navy ship,” Hizon said.
The Philippine Coast Guard said 19 Chinese vessels, including a warship and eight coast guard vessels, were patrolling across the shoal on Wednesday during a reconnaissance flight.
The principal Filipino convoy, consisting of 4 wooden-hulled fishing boats and a Coast Guard escort, was about 108 km southeast of Scarborough Shoal at 6:00 a.m. (local time).
According to the Philippine Coast Guard, the vessel was tracked by nearby Chinese Coast Guard vessels.
The shadows began at dusk on Wednesday as boats approached the shallows and Chinese ships issued warnings that participants heard over radios.
China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday warned the convoy against any try and violate Beijing’s “undisputed sovereignty” over Scarborough Shoal.
Coalition leader Rafaela David said in an announcement on Thursday: “Despite China’s massive blockade, we managed to interrupt their illegal blockade, reaching Bajo de Masinloc to support our fishermen with essential supplies.”
Scarborough Shoal has turn out to be a possible flashpoint since Beijing seized it from Manila in 2012.
The fish-rich reef is situated about 240 km west of the Philippines’ principal island, Luzon, and almost 900 km from Hainan, the closest major Chinese mainland.
China claims almost the complete South China Sea, warding off competing claims from the Philippines and other countries and ignoring a global ruling that its claims haven’t any legal basis.
To maintain its claims, Beijing is sending coast guards and other boats to patrol waterways and has turned several reefs into artificial islands that it has militarized.
