US hits China over interference in PH resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal

MANILA, Philippines — The United States (US) condemned China’s interference in a Philippine humanitarian rotation and resupply (RoRe) mission at Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea earlier this week.

In a statement Sunday, US Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Lipton called out the China Coast Guard (CCG) and the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) “irresponsible maneuvers” that threatened a collision with a Philippine vessel and prevented a lawful and routine resupply mission to the shoal on Thursday.

“We stand by our Philippine allies and laud their professionalism and restraint,” Lipton said.

“We call on the China Coast Guard and PLAN to cease the use of escalatory tactics that threaten the freedom of navigation and a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) earlier said eight Chinese warships and coast guard vessels interfered in a Philippine Navy mission to deliver essential supplies to the Filipino crew aboard BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin.

READ: AFP suspends Ayungin resupply mission after Chinese vessels interfere

The harassment took place from around 8:35 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday while the Philippine supply ship, the M/V Lapu-Lapu, along with three Philippine Navy and Coast Guard (PCG) support vessels, were approximately 60 nautical miles from Ayungin Shoal.

The Chinese side, according to the AFP, hindered the operations with continuous radio calls and monitoring, and got near the Philippine ships.

The PCG said the mission was called off at 11:08 p.m. for the safety of Philippine personnel.

The PCG’s BRP Malabrigo was deployed to “provide security assistance” during the Navy mission.

China continues to assert its ambitious claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, a claim that overlaps with the Philippines’ maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In 2016, an arbitral tribunal invalidated China’s expansive claims, ruling that its so-called “nine-dash line” has no legal basis under international law. Beijing has rejected the ruling, while Manila has repeatedly affirmed that the decision is final and binding. /mcm

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