Philippines Says No Promises Made With China to Remove Grounded Warship

The grounded Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre where marines are stationed to assert Manila's territorial claims at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, on April 23, 2023. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

The Philippines has denied making any “promise” with China to remove a World War II-era warship—which Manila uses as a military outpost to assert its sovereignty—from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

This came after the Philippines accused the China Coast Guard of making dangerous maneuvers and firing water cannons against its boat that was delivering supplies to troops stationed on BRP Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas Shoal, which Manila calls Ayungin Shoal, on Aug. 5.

BRP Sierra Madre was deliberately marooned on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 and now serves as a fragile symbol of Manila’s sovereignty claim to the atoll. Beijing also claims the shoal and calls it Ren'ai Jiao.

The Chinese foreign ministry has defended its coast guard’s actions and said that the Philippines had “explicitly promised several times” to tow away BRP Sierra Madre from the disputed shoal but had failed to do so.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the Philippines National Security Council, refuted Beijing’s claim and said there was “no record or any minutes of a meeting, formal report, legal document, or verbal agreement” made between the two countries to remove the vessel.

“It will be very difficult for us to respond to a hypothetical question on the part of China because insofar as we’re concerned, we have not and will never sign or agree to anything that would, in effect, abandon our sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea,” he told reporters.

“We can consider this, I think, a fiction of the imaginations of the Chinese ambassador because we know nothing about it,” Mr. Malaya added, according to Manila Bulletin.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Jay Tarriela echoed his sentiments, saying that he could not recall the Philippine government making any commitment to China to tow away the ship.

Philippine ship BRP Sierra Madre grounded on Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on March 9, 2023. - As a Philippine Coast Guard plane carrying journalists flew over the Spratly Islands in the hotly disputed South China Sea, a Chinese voice issued a stern command over the radio: "Leave immediately." Jam St Rosa/AFP via Getty Images

US, Canada, Japan Condemn China’s Actions

The United States immediately expressed support to the Philippines and renewed a warning that it’s obliged to defend its longtime treaty ally when Filipino public vessels and forces come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

“Firing water cannons and employing unsafe blocking maneuvers, PRC [People’s Republic of China] ships interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and jeopardized the safety of the Philippine vessels and crew,” the State Department said.

The Canadian Embassy said in a statement that Beijing’s “continuing acts of intimidation and coercion“ against its neighbors undermine the regional stability and ”raise the risks of grave miscalculation.”

Japan said it strongly supported the Philippines, adding that “the harassment and action, which infringe on lawful activities of the sea and endanger navigational safety,” were “totally unacceptable.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. convened a command conference on Aug. 7 and vowed that his country would continue to assert its sovereignty over the South China Sea amid “all of these challenges” and in accordance with international law.

The tense confrontation on Aug. 5 at the Second Thomas Shoal was the latest flare-up in the long-seething territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei.

The disputes in the South China Sea—one of the world’s busiest sea lanes—have long been regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the rivalry between the United States and China in the region.

The Chinese communist regime claims ownership over the entire strategic waterway despite international rulings that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims, such as that of 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international body based in The Hague; the Chinese regime rejects that ruling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.