By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE military on Wednesday said it was exploring joint resupply missions with other countries in the South China Sea due to persistent blocking by Chinese ships of smaller Philippine vessels that try to deliver food and other supplies to a grounded ship at Second Thomas Shoal.
“That’s another option,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner, Jr. told a news briefing.
The military might also use a Philippine Navy vessel for the resupply missions because they are more equipped for such operations, he said.
Resupply missions in the disputed waterway would continue as ordered by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., he added.
“’We are worried, but as mentioned by [Defense Secretary] Gibo Teodoro, the AFP is willing to defend our territory,” Mr. Brawner said in mixed English and Filipino. “We are one of the most experienced armed forces in the world.”
The Philippines on Monday filed a diplomatic protest against China and summoned its envoy in Manila after Chinese ships on Sunday collided with Philippine vessels on a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal, which Filipinos call Ayungin.
Mr. Marcos met with security agencies to “discuss the latest violation by China in the West Philippine Sea,” the presidential palace said in a statement, referring to areas of the South China Sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
The incident was “being taken seriously at the highest level of government,” it said, adding that the Chinese Coast Guard’s “dangerous, illegal and reckless maneuvers” had damaged a Philippine vessel.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila on Monday said it had lodged stern representations to the Philippines over the “trespassing” of the Philippine vessels at Second Thomas Shoal.
It repeated China’s call for the Philippines to stop “causing trouble and provocation” at sea and end “groundless attacks and smearing” against China.
The Philippines should upgrade their combat abilities on their own and with allies for joint resupply missions to be effective, Joshua Bernard B. Espeña, who teaches foreign relations at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“Filipino forces should also have enough supplies, munition and domain awareness to contribute something to the table,” he added.
TRANSPARENT PATROLS
The Philippines might be trying to avoid giving signals that could “provoke the security architecture of the region at our expense,” Don Mclain Gill, a foreign relations lecturer at De La Salle University, said via Messenger chat.
“It does take time to negotiate this,” he said. “As a country situated at the crossroads of a brewing geopolitical crisis, the Philippines has to ensure a great deal of prudence and proactiveness in engaging externally.”
He said joint patrols must be transparent, which means Manila and its partners should agree on the goals, implications and consequences of these patrols in the long term. “The question is whether or not Manila will forge a credible deterrence after a series of dramas at sea.”
Mr. Brawner said they expect more aggression from China including ramming much smaller boats of its neighbor in the South China Sea.
“It’s escalating, the first thing we fear is a possible ramming incident,” he said. “We are the ones trying to avoid it.”
“We stopped our ships because they kept on conducting these dangerous maneuvers, crossing the path of a vessel that was moving forward. That’s very dangerous. It should not be done.”
Unaizah Mae 2, one of the two boats contracted by the Philippine military for the mission, was damaged after it collided with a much bigger China Coast Guard vessel.
While escorting the Unaizah Mae 2, the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Cabra collided with a Chinese maritime militia ship, which had tried to block it from accompanying the resupply boat.
Five Chinese Coast Guard ships “participated in the shadowing, dangerous maneuvers, and blocking” of the mission, while eight Chinese maritime militia vessels blocked the resupply contingent, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tristan Tarriela said on Monday.
The military was trying to deliver materials to improve the living conditions on BRP Sierra Madre during the Sunday mission. BRP Sierra Madre is a World War II-era ship that the Philippines deliberately grounded at the shoal in 1999 to assert its sovereignty claim.
Mr. Brawner said the Philippines has the right to repair the military outpost since it falls within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
“It was sad to see the living conditions [there]. We’re trying to improve that by making sure they have at least decent sleeping facilities, decent dining facilities and internet,” he said.