Philippine boat convoy won’t proceed to China-held reef: Organisers

At 6 am, the Filipino support fleet, which included four wooden-hulled fishing boats and a beach guard escort, was 108 kilometers east of Scarborough Shoal.

According to the Philippine Coast Guard, it was being followed by a near China Coast Guard ship.

” Despite China’s large siege, we managed to breach their unlawful siege, reaching Bajo de Masinloc to help our fishing with important materials”, the head of the partnership, Rafaela David, said in a statement.

Since Beijing seized the Scarborough Shoal from Manila in 2012, it has been a potential battlefield.

The fish-rich coast is located about 240 kilometers west of Luzon, the Philippines ‘ main beach, and nearly 900 kilometers away from Hainan, the next major Chinese land mass.

China asserts nearly the whole South China Sea, ignoring global precedent that it has no legal basis, and rejecting competing claims made by the Philippines and other nations.

Beijing has militarized many islands into artificial islands in response to its claims, employing the coast guard and other vessels to patrol the canal.