MANILA, Aug 23 — As a US military surveillance plane circled overhead, eight Chinese ships chased and briefly blocked four Philippine boats on a resupply mission to a tiny garrison in the hotly contested South China Sea.
A team of AFP journalists on board the BRP Cabra, one of the two Philippine Coast Guard vessels, watched as the Chinese vessels chased, blocked and corralled the four Philippine vessels.Eventually, both supply boats reached the marooned BRP Sierra Madre and unloaded their cargo. There was widespread international criticism of the Chinese actions but Beijing defended its behaviour as “professional”, and accused Manila of “illegal delivery of construction materials” to the grounded ship.
The Philippine Navy deliberately grounded the World War II-era BRP Sierra Madre on the reef in 1999 to check China’s advance in the waters.As this week’s resupply mission got underway on Monday, Chinese vessels patrolling the South China Sea appeared to be manoeuvring into position soon after the boats left Palawan.
It was joined by another three Chinese coast guard ships soon after daybreak on Tuesday, sailing alongside the resupply mission.
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