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MANILA: The Philippines’ protection chief mentioned on Sunday a army resupply mission for the nation’s troops stationed on an atoll within the South China Sea will resume this week, after it was aborted final week when it was blocked by Chinese language coast guard.
Protection Secretary Delfin Lorenzana mentioned he had instructed the army to ship its resupply vessels again to the Philippines-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, and that China “is not going to intervene” this time.
On Thursday, the Philippines condemned “in strongest phrases” actions of three Chinese language coast guard vessels that it mentioned blocked and used water cannon on resupply boats headed towards Second Thomas Shoal, which is regionally often called Ayungin Shoal. The US referred to as the Chinese language actions “harmful, provocative, and unjustified,” and warned that an armed assault on Philippine vessels would invoke US mutual protection commitments.
“The Chinese language is not going to intervene per my dialog with the Chinese language ambassador (Huang Xilian),” mentioned Lorenzana. Lorenzana mentioned he and Huang had been speaking “because the night of the sixteenth whereas the incident was taking place till yesterday, 20 November.” There can be no navy or coast guard escorts for the Philippines’ resupply boats once they sail again to Second Thomas Shoal, Lorenzana mentioned.
“They (China) don’t have any proper to impede, forestall or harass our ships inside our EEZ (unique financial zone), whether or not we’re fishing or bringing provides to our detachment within the Sierra Madre (navy ship) in Ayungin Shoal,” he mentioned.
The chief of the Philippine army’s Western Command, Vice Admiral Ramil Roberto Enriquez, mentioned the variety of Chinese language vessels in Second Thomas Shoal had gone down to 2 as of Saturday evening from three on Tuesday.
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