MANILA, Philippines – Filipino scientists and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel were once again subject to the harassment of Chinese maritime personnel – from its China Coast Guard and even the People’s Liberation Army Navy – during a marine scientific research mission to Escoda Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

The PCG released on Friday, June 7 footage from the mission, which took place on June 4 and 5.

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A team of scientists, accompanied by the PCG and journalists, were in Escoda, also known as Sabina Shoal, to check the condition of the marine environment there. Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the PCG for the West Philippine Sea, noted that the Chinese also conducted an unauthorized “military amphibious exercise” in the area as the research mission was ongoing.

China does not have the authority to conduct a military drill in the shoal, which is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Footage from the PCG showed Chinese personnel aboard smaller vessels trying to drive away Filipinos aboard rubber boats. Escoda Shoal is a shallow part of the West Philippine Sea, which means larger vessels cannot enter it.

Jonathan Anticamara, a professor at the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology who joined the mission, said based on their dives, there is an “ecological disaster” in the shoal, noting that “almost all” corals in Escoda’s shallow waters are dead.

The June 4 and 5 incidents follow a May 19 incident where Chinese personnel, also aboard rubber boats, disrupted a resupply mission to bring food to soldiers aboard the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal. That same day, the China Coast Guard tried to disrupt a medical evacuation mission to bring a soldier out of Ayungin Shoal and into mainland Palawan.

Escoda Shoal is close to Ayungin Shoal, and is typically the rendezvous point for the PCG and Philippine Navy during maritime resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have risen over the past year or so, as the Philippines grows more assertive in fighting for its sovereign rights and sovereignty claims in the West Philippine Sea, or part of the South China Sea that includes Manila’s EEZ.

China claims most of the South China Sea as its own, ignoring a 2016 Arbitral Ruling that deemed its claim invalid. – Rappler.com