Philippines: China still guarding shoal, but Filipinos back
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine aerial surveillance showed Chinese coast guard ships were still guarding a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, but they did not harass and stop Filipinos from fishing there for the first time in years, the Philippine defence secretary said Sunday.
The fishermen’s return to Scarborough Shoal, which China effectively seized in 2012, was “a most welcome development” because it brings back their key source of livelihood, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
China granted access to the tiny, uninhabited shoal 123 nautical miles (228 kilometres) from the northern Philippines after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders this month. After his China trip, Duterte announced without elaborating that Filipinos may be able to return to the shoal soon.
A Philippine navy plane spotted at least four Chinese coast guard ships around the shoal during a surveillance flight on Saturday, Lorenzana said, adding that an earlier report by the Philippine coast guard that the Chinese had left the area was incorrect.