Philippine aerial surveillance showed Chinese coast guard ships were still guarding a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, but they did not harass and stop Filipinos from fishing there for the first time in years, the Philippine defense secretary said Sunday.
The fishermen’s return to Scarborough Shoal, which China effectively seized in 2012, was “a most welcome development” because it brings back their key source of livelihood, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
China granted access to the tiny, uninhabited shoal 228 km from the northern Philippines after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders this month. After his China trip, Duterte announced without elaborating that Filipinos may be able to return to the shoal soon.
A Philippine navy plane spotted at least four Chinese coast guard ships around the shoal during a surveillance flight on Saturday, Lorenzana said, adding that an earlier report by the Philippine coast guard that the Chinese had left the area was incorrect.
“Flybys of our planes reported Chinese coast guard ships are still there, but our fishermen were fishing unmolested,” Lorenzana told The Associated Press, adding that the government would try to carry out surveillance flights regularly in the area.
It’s unclear how long China would keep the shoal open to Filipinos or if there were any conditions attached.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said, “There are no written agreements or rules, but Filipino fishermen who went there lately attest that they were not driven away nor were accosted.”

Source: Arab News