CODE OF CONDUCT
The outpost was resupplied on the same day that China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes the Philippines, resumed talks in Manila on a code of conduct in the South China Sea in the 40th meeting of a joint working group.
“We are negotiating a Code of Conduct precisely because we would like to prevent incidents such as the last one at the Ayungin Shoal from happening,” Philippine foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Teresita Daza said, using the Filipino name for Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippines, a longtime US ally, has outposts on nine reefs and islands in the Spratlys, including Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine Navy deliberately grounded the World War II-era BRP Sierra Madre on the shoal in 1999 to check China’s advance in the waters.
The troops stationed on the rusty ship depend on regular deliveries for their survival.
Second Thomas Shoal is about 200km from the western Philippine island of Palawan, and more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
The use of water cannon on Aug 5 drew condemnations from the United States and other Western governments and fanned tensions between Manila and Beijing, which have a long history of maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Beijing has defended its actions in the Aug 5 incident as “professional”, and accused Manila of “illegal delivery of construction materials” to the grounded ship.
The Philippines has insisted that Second Thomas Shoal is within its exclusive economic zone, and therefore its efforts to resupply troops and repair the BRP Sierra Madre are legitimate.
Philippine military spokesman Colonel Medel Aguilar said Tuesday’s mission “demonstrated to the whole world the Filipinos’ firm resolve to assert our sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the shoal which is within the country’s maritime zones”.