A CHINA Coast Guard (CCG) vessel that stayed inside Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal for nearly a week has departed following an incident that left a Philippine Navy sailor injured, according to the maritime transparency initiative SeaLight.
In an update on Wednesday, SeaLight said ship tracking data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence showed that CCG vessel 21560 left the shoal at around 8 a.m. local time and headed toward China’s military outpost at Mischief Reef.
SeaLight said the vessel was the same CCG ship involved in Monday’s confrontation when it launched a small boat that reportedly approached within 20 to 30 meters of the grounded BRP Sierra Madre, the Philippine military outpost stationed at the shoal.
The close approach triggered an incident in which a Philippine sailor was struck on the head while defending the outpost. The injured serviceman was medically evacuated by the Philippine Coast Guard on Tuesday.
Based on Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship tracking data, which does not account for vessels operating with their transponders turned off, SeaLight said CCG 21560 has not been replaced by another Chinese coast guard ship inside the shoal as of Wednesday morning.
Ayungin Shoal, located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea, has remained a flashpoint between Philippine and Chinese vessels as Beijing continues to assert its sweeping claims over almost the entire South China Sea despite the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated those claims.
Meanwhile, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) on Wednesday rejected China’s claim that the medical evacuation of injured Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel was conducted with Beijing’s authorization.
In a statement, the NTF-WPS described the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) assertion as “false” and accused it of attempting to distort the facts surrounding the humanitarian mission.
According to the task force, CCG rigid-hull inflatable boats repeatedly carried out dangerous blocking maneuvers during the evacuation, hampering the safe transfer of wounded AFP personnel to Philippine Coast Guard vessels.
The NTF-WPS also disputed China’s claim that it had “permitted” the operation, saying the conduct of Chinese personnel at the scene contradicted such assertions.
“The Philippines does not require China’s permission to conduct lawful activities within its maritime domain consistent with national and international law,” the statement said.
