This handout photo grabbed from a video released by the Philippine Coast Guard on June 7, 2024 shows Philippine Coast Guard divers and marine scientists surveying part of Sabina shoal in the waters of South China Sea. – The Philippine Coast Guard said on June 7, that Chinese boats “harassed” their vessel during a medical evacuation last month of a Filipino soldier, who was stationed on a remote outpost in the South China Sea. (Photo by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP) / – NO Editorial use – NO Marketing campaign
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER | Published December 28, 2024
MANILA, Philippines — From being a mere rendezvous point on regular resupply missions in a nearby military outpost at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, the Escoda (Sabina) Shoal is emerging as a new flashpoint in the West Philippine Sea in 2924 as China intensified its aggression in Philippine waters.
In a bid to prevent another Beijing takeover, like what happened in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in 2012 which led to a historic international tribunal ruling heavily in favor of Manila, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) anchored its biggest multirole response vessel in Escoda in April.
BRP Teresa Magbanua was the longest-deployed PCG ship in the West Philippine Sea until it left the area in September partly as a result of Chinese blockade of supplies.
“This has been one of the surprise developments of 2024,” said West Philippine Sea monitor Ray Powell in a message to INQUIRER.net.
Magbanua arrived in Puerto Princesa port on Sept. 15 with four dehydrated crewmen who subsisted on rice porridge and rainwater weeks earlier as China Coast Guard (CCG) managed to repeatedly thwart the delivery of supplies to the PCG crewmen.
“China has made the decision to deny Philippine government vessels entry into Sabina Shoal since the departure of the BRP Teresa Magbanua in September 2024,” Powell, a retired US Air Force colonel and the program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said.
“The Philippines has continued to probe around Sabina Shoal since that time, but thus far China has not relaxed its quarantine,” he continued.
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SOURCE: www.inquirer.net
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