It looks like stormy weather may break the
standoff between the Philippines and China.
Citing
bad weather, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has ordered home two
Philippine ships engaged in a standoff with China over Scarborough Shoal,
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Saturday.
Aquino
ordered a Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel and a Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources survey ship out of the disputed shoal in the West Philippine
Sea (South China Sea) on Friday night, Del Rosario said.
“Last
night, President Aquino ordered both of our ships to return to port due to
increasing bad weather,” Del Rosario said in a statement.
“When
[the] weather improves, a reevaluation will be made,” he added.
The
announcement was made as Typhoon “Butchoy” approached the country’s north from
the Pacific Ocean.
With
Butchoy gaining power and growing into a typhoon as it skimmed the eastern
seaboard of the Philippines, intensified monsoon winds were causing squalls in
the West Philippine Sea on Saturday.
China
was expected to follow the Philippine safety lead and order all of its vessels
home from Scarborough Shoal.
And
that could be the end of the standoff that began after Chinese government
vessels blocked Philippine ships from arresting Chinese fishermen caught
poaching sharks and collecting rare clams and corals in the shoal’s lagoon on
April 10.
The two
Philippine vessels had been around the shoal claimed by both countries since
the standoff began in April.
China
had a larger number of vessels around the shoal, though both sides imposed
unilateral fishing bans in the area in May.
As of
Thursday, China had seven government ships outside the Scarborough Shoal’s
lagoon and 20 to 26 fishing boats within the lagoon, according to the
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Del
Rosario told reporters on Friday that China had expressed intention to order
the fishing boats home.
Pullout agreement
“The
Chinese still have vessels in the lagoon and we’re waiting for them to remove
those vessels from that area,” Del Rosario said.
Other
than the two government vessels, the Philippines had no more vessels at the
shoal.
On
Saturday, Del Rosario said China had agreed to pull out all of its vessels in
the lagoon. “We are waiting for them to comply with their commitment,” he said.
Negotiations
were going on for the removal of the Chinese government vessels, DFA
spokesperson Raul Hernandez said on Friday.
There
was no word from the department on Saturday about the negotiations.
As of
Friday, China was talking about Chinese fishing boats “doing normal fishing” in
waters around “Huangyan Island”—China’s name for Scarborough Shoal—and Chinese
government vessels providing “management and services” for the “fishing ships
and fishermen.”
Located
220 kilometres west of Zambales province, Scarborough Shoal is well within the
Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
But
China claims nearly all of the West Philippine Sea, even waters close to the
coasts of neighbouring countries.
The
Philippines and Vietnam have in recent years accused China of becoming
increasingly aggressive in staking its claim.
Besides
the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have territorial
claims in the disputed Southeast Asian waters that rival China’s interests in
the region.
Tina G.
Santos
Philippine
Daily Inquirer
With a
report from AFP
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