Philippines urges fishermen to keep up presence at China-held shoal
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[September 27, 2023]
By Neil Jerome Morales
MANILA (Reuters) -The coastguard of the Philippines urged the country's
fishermen on Wednesday to keep operating at the disputed Scarborough
Shoal and other sites in the South China Sea, pledging to step up
patrols there despite an imposing Chinese presence.
On Monday, the Philippine coastguard cut a 300-m (980-ft) floating
barrier installed by China that blocked access to the Scarborough Shoal,
a bold response in an area Beijing has controlled for more than a decade
with coastguard ships and a fleet of large fishing vessels.
Philippine vessels were unable to maintain a constant presence but were
committed to protecting the rights of fishermen inside the country's
exclusive economic zone (EEZ), coastguard spokesperson Commodore Jay
Tarriela said.
"We're going to increase patrols in Bajo de Masinloc and other areas
where Filipino fishermen are," he told DZRH radio, referring to the
shoal, one of Asia's most contested maritime features, by its Philippine
name.
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The Philippines has said China's response at the shoal, which Beijing
calls Huangyan Island, has so far been measured.
China's foreign ministry had earlier advised the Philippines to avoid
provocations and not cause trouble, but on Wednesday its spokesperson
Wang Wenbin took a more critical view.
"I would also like to reiterate once again. Huangyan Island is China's
inherent territory," he told a regular briefing.
"The so-called operation of the Philippine side is a purely
self-indulgent farce."
STRATEGIC LOCATION
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the Philippines'
cutting of the cordon was not a provocation.
"We are reacting to their action," he said during a senate hearing on
Wednesday.
The rocky, mid-sea outcrop is the site of numerous diplomatic rows. Both
countries claim sovereignty over the shoal, a prime fishing spot about
200 km (124 miles) off the Philippines and 850 km (530 miles) from
mainland China and its southern island of Hainan.
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![](../images/092723PIX/news_x12.jpg)
Workers unload fishing coolers at a port in Masinloc, Zambales
province, Philippines, September 26, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
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The shoal is close to shipping lanes that transport an estimated
$3.4 trillion of annual commerce, and control of it is strategic for
Beijing, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
Those claims complicate fisheries and offshore oil and gas
activities by its Southeast Asian neighbours.
Coastguard official Tarriela said the Philippine fisheries bureau
had successfully anchored a vessel just 300 m (980 ft) from the
Scarborough Shoal's lagoon, its closest point to the atoll since
China seized it in 2012.
It was not clear whether China's use of a barrier represented a
change to a status quo that has existed since 2017 in which
Beijing's coastguard allowed Filipinos to operate there, albeit on a
far smaller scale than Chinese vessels.
It comes amid soured relations, with the Philippines increasingly
assertive over the conduct of China's coastguard in its EEZ, as it
strengthens military ties with ally the United States by expanding
access to its bases.
"The Scarborough Shoal is closer to the Philippines," said fisherman
Pepito Fabros who had come ashore in the province of Zambales
between trips to sea.
"Why are they stopping us from entering?"
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Additional reporting by Adrian
Portugal in Zambales, Enrico dela Cruz in Manila and Andrew Hayley
in Beijing; Editing by Martin Petty, Clarence Fernandez, Peter
Graff)
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