China and the Philippines announced on Sunday they have reached a “provisional arrangement” to allow resupply missions to reach the BRP Sierra Madre, the beached ship that functions as a Filipino outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
China has been intercepting, and in recent cases attacking, supply ships in a bid to force the Philippines out of its own territorial waters.
Tensions hit the boiling point in mid-June when Chinese coast guard vessels rammed and boarded Philippine navy boats, an action denounced by Filipino officials as a “barbaric” act of “piracy.” A Filipino sailor lost his thumb in the conflict.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) offered no details of the arrangement with China on Sunday, but they said it was the result of “frank and constructive discussions” between the two powers.
“Both sides continue to recognize the need to de-escalate the situation in the South China Sea and manage differences through dialogue and consultation and agree that the agreement will not prejudice each other’s positions in the South China Sea,” DFA said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, on the other hand, said the arrangement was merely “temporary,” and Beijing still “demands that the Philippine side tow away the ship,” restoring the Second Thomas Shoal to its pristine status as “unmanned and without facilities.”
“If the Philippines needs to provide supplies to the ship’s occupants before the Philippines tows away the beached warship, the Chinese side is willing to allow the Philippine side to carry out the transportation and replenishment on humanitarian grounds,” a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry sniffed.
The rusting hulk of the BRP Sierra Madre has been parked on the shoal since 1999, serving as a base for a tiny detachment of Filipino troops. China incessantly complains about the presence of the ship and tells Manila to remove it, occasionally threatening to send in Chinese warships to drag it away.
The Philippine government was evidently content enough with China’s promises to refuse U.S. assistance in supplying the Second Thomas Shoal outpost. A statement from the Philippine military promised to “exhaust all means before seeking foreign intervention.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday the agreement with China does not mean his country is relinquishing its territorial claims in the South China Sea, but he said it was important to “de-escalate the situation” and “manage differences in a peaceful manner.” He urged China to “do the same.”
“In the face of challenges to our territorial sovereignty, we will assert our rights and interests in the same fair and pacific way that we have always done,” Marcos said in his State of the Nation address.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Monday pointed out the disparity between statements from Beijing and Manila on the provisional arrangement, which seems to be a very tenuous promise to avoid another violent clash like the one in June.
Some observers doubted the agreement amounted to much at all, since China immediately began listing all the reasons it would feel entitled to use force against Filipino vessels, such as any attempt to send construction materials for a more permanent outpost to the Second Thomas Shoal.
For their part, Filipino officials said they have not promised to give China prior notification of supply missions, or any right to perform intrusive inspections of resupply vessels. Given these conflicting statements, it was not clear exactly what Beijing and Manila agreed to in their provisional arrangement.
