Philippines, China agree to de-escalate South China Sea tensions

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said it reached an agreement with the People’s Republic of China to ease tensions surrounding a disputed shoal. The agreement would allow the Filipino navy to resupply a contingent of Filipino marines stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre with food, water, and humanitarian supplies, according to the Chinese state-run media group Xinhua News. Chinese naval crews will inspect the resupply shipments, Xinhua added.

The BRP Sierra Madre is a Filipino vessel run aground on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to bolster the Philippines’ claim to sovereignty over the island, according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The Filipino military has kept a contingent of marines on the boat on the shoal for roughly 25 years. Chinese ships have routinely harassed Filipino vessels resupplying the marines aboard the BRP Sierra Madre.

What else does the agreement include? As part of the agreement, both the Philippines and China commit to settle their differences regarding the shoal’s sovereignty peacefully. China insisted that it did not surrender its claims to the shoal as part of the agreement, but chose to allow the resupply missions to the Sierra Madre out of a humanitarian spirit. The Philippines cannot transport building materials to reinforce the vessel during its resupply missions, according to Xinhua.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how Japan and the Philippines have signed a defense pact to counter the threat of Chinese aggression in the region.