The Philippine government is making good on its pledge to maintain a presence in Scarborough Shoal, a part of the South China Sea that China has dominated for over a decade.
"The guidance of the president [Ferdinand Marcos Jr.] is very clear: the rotation and deployment will be here to stay between the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources," coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said.
A traditional fishing grounds for Philippine, Vietnamese, and Chinese fisher-folk alike, the resource-rich atoll has effectively been controlled by China since that country seized de facto control amid a dispute that was sparked by Manila's attempted apprehension of Chinese fishermen in 2012.
"Cessation of deployment in the area is something that this national government is not considering," Tarriela stressed Saturday at a forum in Quezon City, near the Philippine capital of Manila, according to the Philippines' public official information portal.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy in Manila via a written request for comment.
The announcement by the coast guard aligns with an announcement by the Southeast Asian country's armed forces last month that it would be stepping up its naval presence in light of the Chinese coast guard again harassing fishermen.
"Are we provoking China? Are we escalating it? I don't think so," Tarriela said Saturday. "Our objective here is to protect the Filipino fishermen, to make sure that the Filipino fishermen can fish in Bajo de Masinloc."
Scarborough Shoal—known as Bajo de Masinloc in Manila and Huangyan Island in Beijing—is less than 140 miles from Luzon, the most populous Philippine island, and almost 700 miles from Hainan, the nearest Chinese province.
The shoal was one of several South China Sea features at stake when the Philippines filed a landmark case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in 2013, shortly after Chinese forces began their long-term occupation.
The court handed the plaintiff country the arbitral award, citing standing international maritime law and rejecting China's vague historical claims.
Beijing maintains the ruling is invalid and that Manila should return to one-on-one dialogue, where the regional power has significant leverage, instead of involving third countries such as Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty ally the United States.
The Philippine government estimates the livelihoods of as many as 385,000 people depend on bounty caught within its exclusive economic zone—an internationally recognized 200-nautical mile zone that grants a country alone the right to natural resources found there.
Earlier this month, Manila blasted the Chinese coast guard over multiple alleged "dangerous and blocking maneuvers" as it sought to impede Philippine coast guard vessel the BRP Teresa Magbanua during a nine-day patrol, during which it delivered supplies to fishermen operating in the area.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
