South China Sea: Beijing says it removed sea barrier voluntarily despite Manila’s claim ‘special operation’ cut cordon

Philippines on Monday said its ‘special operation’ ordered by the president cut a 300-metre cordon installed by China off Scarborough Shoal
Chinese coastguard spokesman insists it ‘took the initiative to retrieve the blocking facilities and resume normal control on September 23’

South China Sea

Zhao Ziwen

Published: 1:59pm, 28 Sep 2023

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Beijing has insisted it voluntarily removed a floating barrier in the South China Sea to resume “regular control” on Wednesday night, in a tit-for-tat with the Philippines over the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

“The official vessel of the Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) illegally entered the waters near China’s Huangyan Island without the approval of the Chinese government,” Gan Yu, a spokesman for the China Coast Guard, said late on Wednesday, using the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal.

“[China] temporarily deployed blocking nets in response to the intrusion of the Philippine vessel into the lagoon, and then took the initiative to retrieve the blocking facilities and resume normal control on September 23.”

03:09

Philippine coastguard removes Chinese barrier at disputed Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea

Gan’s remarks would date the removal of the barrier to Saturday, two days before Manila publicly condemned Beijing for installing the barrier and its announcement of successfully removing it.

The Philippines on Monday said it had executed a “special operation” ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to cut a 300-metre (980-foot) cordon installed by China off the shoal. The next day it said China had taken away the remnants of the barrier.

“The so-called dismantling of the Chinese barrier is a complete fabrication of facts and a self-induced drama directed by the Philippines,” Gan said in the statement.

Gan also said China would continue to carry out activities in the waters and “resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty and maritime rights”.

‘I just laughed at them’: the Filipino fishermen facing off against China

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin dismissed the move on Wednesday and repeated that Scarborough Shoal was Chinese territory and Beijing would always defend its sovereignty and maritime interests over the area.

“This so-called action by the Philippine side is purely a farce for its own amusement,” Wang said.

Beijing blocked Filipino fishers from entering the shoal’s lagoon after it took control of the uninhabited shoal following a tense maritime stand-off in 2012, prompting Manila to take Beijing to an international tribunal over its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The tribunal ruled in 2016 that Beijing’s claims to most of the waterway were invalid, but Beijing rejected the ruling.

China has claimed Scarborough Shoal – some 220km from the Philippines and nearly 900km from China – as part of its ancestral territory since the 1300s. Manila made a claim to the shoal as its exclusive economic zone in 1997 under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

05:22

Why the South China Sea dispute remains one of the region’s most pressing issues

Philippine fishing boats have been allowed to return to Scarborough Shoal since late 2016 after then-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing and ties improved.

However, tensions have been rising between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea in recent years amid the intensifying power game between Beijing and Washington in the Indo-Pacific region.