China on Tuesday repeated calls for the Philippines to remove an old ship from a reef that Manila uses to assert its claim to the Spratly Islands, defying Beijing’s claim to practically the entire South China Sea.
The Philippines accused the China Coast Guard of firing water cannons at boats on a resupply mission to its troops stationed on the grounded vessel over the weekend.
The BRP Sierra Madre, which was deliberately grounded in the late 1990s to slow China’s advance in the hotly contested waters, has long been a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing.
The few Philippine marines stationed on the deteriorating warship rely on resupply missions to survive their isolated assignment.
The Philippine military and coast guard accused the China Coast Guard of violating international law by delaying the resupply mission and firing water cannons, preventing one of the charter boats from reaching the shoal.
Beijing has defended its conduct as “professional” and has accused Manila of “illegal delivery of construction materials” to the stranded ship.
“The Philippine side has repeatedly made clear promises to tow away the warship illegally ‘stranded’ on the reef,” a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“Twenty-four years have passed, the Philippine side has not only failed to tow away the warship, but also attempted to repair and reinforce it on a large scale to achieve permanent occupation of the Ren’ai Reef,” they added, using the Chinese term for the Second Thomas Shoal.
“The Chinese side once again urges the Philippines to immediately tow away the ‘stranded’ warship from the Ren’ai Reef and restore the status of no one and no facilities on the reef,” they said.
