A PHILIPPINE Coast Guard (PCG) vessel that spent five months anchored at the disputed Escoda Shoal in the South China Sea has left the area, Philippine officials said Sunday.
The BRP Teresa Magbanua had been anchored inside the shoal since April to assert Manila's claims to the area and prevent China from seizing it.
Beijing has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Philippine and Chinese vessels have collided at least three times recently near Escoda, located 140 kilometers from Palawan and 1,200 kilometers from China's nearest major landmass, Hainan Island.
On August 31, a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel “carried out a dangerous maneuver,” ramming the port bow of the Teresa Magbanua, according to the PCG.
The ship's bridge wing and freeboard were damaged in one of the collisions.
“During her deployment… she challenged an encirclement by a larger flotilla of intruders, battled inclement weather, with her crew surviving on diminished daily provisions,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who is also chairman of National Maritime Council, said in a statement Sunday.
Last month, Chinese vessels blocked a resupply mission for the Filipino sailors on board the ship, leaving them running critically low on food and other provisions.
The Teresa Magbanua “carried out her sentinel duties against overwhelming odds,” Bersamin added.
China's coast guard noted the ship's withdrawal on Sunday and said Beijing “has indisputable sovereignty over… Xianbin Jiao and its adjacent waters,” using the Chinese name for Sabina Shoal.
Manila's actions had “seriously infringed on China's territorial sovereignty… seriously undermining regional peace and stability,” spokesman Liu Dejun said in a statement.
“We sternly warn the Philippines to stop inciting propaganda and risking infringements and to meet China halfway to safeguard the seriousness and validity of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” Liu said.
Beijing “will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in waters under China's jurisdiction,” Liu said.
National Maritime Council spokesman Vice Admiral Alexander Lopez said the country would “continue to monitor and enforce our rights, exercise our rights, sovereign rights, sovereignty and jurisdiction over the area.”
Earlier this week Philippine and Chinese officials held high-level talks on maritime issues where China reiterated its demand for the withdrawal of Teresa Magbanua.
The latest situation has echoes of 2012, when Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal — another strategic feature about 240 kilometers west of Luzon.
Then, Manila pulled its ships back after a tense two-month maritime standoff.
Bersamin said the crew members of the Teresa Magbanua survived on porridge before completely running out of supplies a few days before sailing back to its homeport in Palawan.
He said the ship will redeploy to the contested waterway “after she has been resupplied and repaired, and her crew recharged.”
Lopez said that the Philippines will maintain a presence in Escoda Shoal and “will keep on monitoring and documenting any or all illegal activities” of China.
The Teresa Magbanua was particularly monitoring reclamation activities in Escoda Shoal, after crushed corals were found dumped on the seabed.
In a separate statement, the PCG said the presence of the ship in Escoda “has played a crucial role in countering illegal activities that threaten our marine environment and thwarting attempts by other state actors to engage in surreptitious reclamation in the area.”
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