Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 23) — Despite continued dangerous maneuvers by Chinese state vessels in the West Philippine Sea, Philippine officials said on Wednesday they noticed a change in behavior during the military’s recently completed resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal.
Supply vessels chartered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), escorted by two Philippine Coast Guard ships, delivered supplies to Filipino troops stationed on Ayungin Shoal on Tuesday after they failed to complete the trip last Aug. 5, when China blasted water cannons.
AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said there was a less hostile approach from China this time, which he believes was brought by the backlash from other nations on the water cannon incident.
“They were not so aggressive. Probably they learned their lesson, that violence has no place in this world especially if that violence is founded on something that is not acceptable to the international community,” the official said in the Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday.
He added China deployed two Coast Guard vessels that were smaller compared to the one used by the Philippines.
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Old tactics remain
However, Commodore Jay Tarriela, the PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, believes the east Asian giant is only trying to keep up appearances.
“I think this has something to do with optics. They want to show the world kunyari they are not really that aggressive in preventing our resupply operations kaya nag-adjust sila ng dalawang mas maliit na barko. It’s still defeating the argument na naging makatao sila sa pagpapapasok ng resupply operations,” he said.
[Translation: They want to keep up appearances to the world that they are not really that aggressive in stopping us so they used smaller boats. But the blockade proves they are still not humane.]
He added, \”The resupply mission that we had yesterday is not a walk in the park. We still experienced dangerous maneuvers.\”
In a separate interview, AFP chief Romeo Brawner Jr. noted that while China no longer fired water cannons on Tuesday, it still appeared ready to use these on Philippine vessels.
“Yung isang (Chinese) coast guard ay pinaandar nila ‘yung kanilang mga water cannon ano, although hindi naman nila tinutok directly sa mga resupply ship natin at dun sa coast guard ship natin. Pero the mere fact na pinaandar mo ‘yung water cannons mo at ready kang gamitin ito is something else,” Brawner said.
[Translation: The Chinese coast guard started operating their water cannons, although they did not directly aim these at our resupply and coast guard ships. But the mere fact that you readied these devices is something else.]
The AFP chief said he interprets the move as China’s way of “flexing [its] muscles.\”
Still, both Tarriela and Aguilar noted the importance of other countries’ support, with Aguilar saying it shows that China is now \”isolated\” from the rest of the world.
Aside from the international support, Tarriela also attributed the success of the resupply mission to the seamanship skills of the PCG vessels and supply ships.
He said China made three attempts to block and separate the supply vessels from the PCG ships escorting them to the military outpost on Ayungin Shoal.
\”This time our game plan really is to outmaneuver the Chinese Coast Guard vessels sa kanilang pagharang sa atin. The game plan was for the supply boats to be successful in entering the shoal at makapagdeliver ng kaniyang supplies,\” the spokesperson said.
Tarriela and Aguilar promised Filipinos that the administration will continue to assert the country’s sovereign rights over Ayungin Shoal. They also stressed the government will not remove the BRP Sierra Madre — the Navy ship intentionally grounded on the shoal by the Philippines to enforce the country’s claim.
