MANILA. Approximately 100 Filipino activists aboard wooden boats decided against sailing closer to the fiercely contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Thursday. The decision was made to avoid a confrontation with dozens of Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships guarding the area.
Accompanied by journalists on four boats, the activists instead chose to distribute food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen about 58 nautical miles (107 kilometers) southeast of Scarborough Shoal before heading back home. Emman Hizon and other organizers confirmed this plan.
Tensions have been high at Scarborough Shoal and the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, with Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships engaged in increasingly hostile faceoffs since last year. Chinese ships have used powerful water cannons, blocking tactics, and other dangerous maneuvers, resulting in minor collisions and injuries to Filipino navy personnel, straining diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The United States has reiterated its commitment to defend the Philippines, its longtime treaty ally, if Filipino forces, ships, or aircraft come under armed attack in the region, including the busy South China Sea. This has raised concerns that the territorial disputes could escalate into a conflict involving Washington.
The activists and fishing community leaders, part of a nongovernmental coalition called Atin Ito (Tagalog for “This is Ours”), provided aid to Filipino fishermen and floated symbolic territorial buoys on their way to the outskirts of Scarborough Shoal to assert Philippine sovereign rights over the atoll. However, two Chinese coast guard ships began shadowing them on Wednesday night, according to Hizon and the Philippine coast guard.
Despite the Chinese blockade of at least 46 ships in the area, a group of 10 activists managed to distribute food and fuel to Filipino fishermen closer to the atoll. “We managed to breach their illegal blockade, reaching the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc to support our fishers with essential supplies,” said Rafaela David, an activist leader who led the voyage to the disputed waters. “Mission accomplished.”
The Philippine coast guard deployed three patrol ships and a light plane on Wednesday to monitor the activists, who had set off from western Zambales province. Dozens of journalists joined the three-day voyage.
In December, the group attempted an expedition to another disputed shoal but cut the trip short after being tailed by a Chinese ship.
China effectively seized Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon, by surrounding it with its coast guard ships following a tense 2012 standoff with Philippine government ships. In response, the Philippine government brought the territorial disputes to international arbitration in 2013 and largely won. A tribunal in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s expansive claims based on historical grounds were invalid under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The ruling declared Scarborough Shoal a traditional fishing area for Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese fishermen, but China refused to join the arbitration, rejected the ruling, and continues to defy it.
Two weeks ago, Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships used water cannons on Philippine coast guard and fisheries ships patrolling Scarborough Shoal, damaging both ships. The Philippines condemned the Chinese coast guard’s actions, which took place within Manila’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. The Chinese coast guard claimed it took “necessary measures” after the Philippine ships “violated China’s sovereignty.”
Aside from the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan are also involved in long-standing territorial disputes in the region. Indonesia has similarly had skirmishes with Chinese vessels in resource-rich waters stretching from its Natuna islands to the margins of the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. The Indonesian navy has previously fired warning shots and seized Chinese fishing boats it accused of encroaching into Indonesian waters.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
