However, Beijing and Manila seem to have different interpretations of the agreement on contentious Second Thomas Shoal.
China and the Philippines say they’ve arrived at an understanding to de-escalate tensions over a flashpoint in the South China Sea, yet messaging from both governments on Monday hints at different interpretations of the agreement.
The feature at stake is Second Thomas Shoal, a contested reef within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone where the country stations a contingent of marines on a rusting warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, grounded in 1999 to stake Manila’s claim.
China claims the feature, as it does most of the South China Sea, as its territory, citing historical rights, despite an international tribunal’s 2016 ruling dismissing Beijing’s sweeping claims. Philippine resupply and troop rotation missions to the Sierra Madre over the past year have been met with forceful responses from Chinese forces, with clashes in March and June leaving several Philippine personnel injured and testing the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty.
« The Philippines and the People’s Republic of China have reached an understanding of principles and approaches that will be observed by both sides in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation in the conduct of the Philippines’ lawful and routine rotation and resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal », the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released Friday.
