The Philippines, China give cooperation a try in South China Sea

The Philippines and China are trying to work out a deal where both countries can use the waters near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Whether or not both sides can live with the agreement remains to be seen.

The South China Sea is one of, if not the most, disputed bodies of water on the planet. Around a third of global trade transits these waters, and China claims the entirety of the South China Sea as its own. Those claims overlap the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled Beijing has no basis for its claims.

In 1999, in an area called the Second Thomas Shoal, the Philippines purposefully beached the Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship, as a more permanent sign of its claim to the region. The Sierra Madre now serves as an outpost for Filipino marines , but it requires regular resupply missions.

Those missions were the flashpoints for numerous encounter s between the Chinese and the Filipinos. Over the course of the last year, the encounters grew more confrontational and violent.

In June, one Filipino sailor lost a thumb when Chinese vessels rammed into Filipino boats. Chinese sailors could also be seen in videos posted from the incident waving machetes, knives and other weapons. Other videos released by the Chinese government showed Filipino marines armed with firearms, but they did not engage the Chinese.

Both Beijing and Manila said they want to cool the tensions, and on July 21, the two nations announced an understanding on the "provisional arrangement for resupply missions" to the Sierra Madre. Neither side released details on the agreement. Just statements about it, really.

The Philippines said it would not "prejudice the country’s national positions ," that the agreement was done in good faith, and the country is ready to implement it.

China’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged a "temporary, provisional" agreement which allows for the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Sierra Madre. However, the ministry said China is awaiting the day when the ship is towed away.

China also said it still wants to prohibit the transfer of construction materials to the Sierra Madre, and wants to be notified in advance of any shipments to the vessel so the Chinese coast guard can visually inspect the boats making the deliveries.

The Philippines said it never agreed to those terms, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. doesn’t seem keen on making either of those concessions. Just a day after the agreement was announced, Marcos said his country cannot yield or waver its position in the South China Sea, but will continue to find ways to deescalate tensions in the contested waters through diplomacy first.

It should be noted here, the Philippines bought three batteries of BrahMos anti-ship missiles from India recently, and is now in the process of setting up the launch sites for those weapons.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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