China says Philippines sent supplies to warship at disputed atoll

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A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea March 29, 2014. (Reuters/Erik De Castro/File Photo)

BEIJING — China’s coast guard said on Thursday it had allowed a Philippine civilian vessel to deliver provisions to a warship “illegally grounded” at the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll in the South China Sea.

The coast guard questioned and monitored the Philippine vessel throughout its supply mission, it said in a statement, urging the Philippines to work with China to manage the maritime situation.

The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China and the Philippines have traded barbs for months over manoeuvres at Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll within Manila’s 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal said Beijing’s claims, based on its historic maps, have no basis under international law, a decision China does not recognise.

—Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Bernadette Baum