China Coast Guard Observes Naval Activities In The South China Sea, Philippine Defense Minister: That Is Intimidation And Harassment

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. (Wikimedia Commons/Department of Defense Philippines)

JAKARTA - A Navy ship from the Philippines successfully completed a supply mission Tuesday at an outpost in the South China Sea, the country's defense minister said.

This was done after the previous day the President of the Philippines rebuked China at an international summit, regarding its blockade in the area.

Two Philippine supply ships managed to reach the outpost in Sierra Madre, a ship that was deliberately run aground decades ago in the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.

However, a small boat sent from a Chinese coast guard vessel carrying three people recorded the unloading of Filipino personnel and cargo, Minister Lorenzana said.

The Philippines and the United States last week condemned the Chinese coast guard for disrupting missions and using water cannons on logistics vessels.

This area is within the 320km exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

"I have communicated with the Chinese Ambassador, we consider this act as a form of intimidation and harassment," said Minister Lorenzana, citing Straitstimes from Reuters on November 23.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila, Philippines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

To note, a small military contingent over the years has been assigned to the ship that ran aground in the Second Thomas Shoal area, to assert the Philippines' claim to sovereignty in the area.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said at a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping he "hated" what happened in the region last week, insisting the rule of law was the only way out of the "colossal" ranks in the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea as its own, using the "nine-dash line" on a map that an international arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 had no basis under international law.

Over the years that it has deployed hundreds of ships in large groups to strengthen its claims in the South China Sea, China has been challenged by claims from the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Taiwan to Vietnam.