BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s coast guard said it had “given permission” for humanitarian reasons to the Philippines to evacuate an ailing person from a rusting warship stranded on the Second Thomas Shoal in waters claimed by both countries.
The China Coast Guard said in a statement late Tuesday that it had monitored and verified Sunday’s entire operation, which a spokesman said was at the request of its Philippine counterparts.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the country’s statement, while a National Security Council spokesman said the agency had no immediate comment.
But the PCG said on Tuesday that navy sailors and troops “successfully carried out” the medical evacuation “despite numerous obstruction and delaying tactics” by the Chinese Coast Guard.
A month ago, the PCG accused Chinese authorities of blocking medical evacuations from a warship, calling the act “barbaric and inhumane.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on the same day that China would allow the Philippines to transport supplies and evacuate personnel if it notified China before the mission.
The Philippines houses its troops on Second Thomas Shoal, a rusty and dilapidated warship that Manila deliberately ran aground in 1999 to strengthen its maritime claims.
The Chinese navy has had several clashes with Philippine forces seeking supplies for stranded ships.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a vital route for $3 trillion in annual shipborne trade. Beijing rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that found China’s sweeping maritime claims have no legal basis.
(Reporting by Liz Li and Shanghai newsroom; additional reporting by Mikhail Flores in Manila; Editing by Michael Perry and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
