China disrupted the evacuation of Filipino servicemen in need of hospital treatment off the Manila-held Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea in March and May, Philippine officials said Tuesday, in another incident showing heightening tensions between Manila and Beijing over their competing claims in the sea.
The Philippines' military chief Romeo Brawner spoke to reporters about the disruption in March and how the military's mission to transfer a sick solider stationed at the naval outpost on the shoal to a hospital was blocked by Chinese vessels.
Brawner said the military eventually succeeded in ferrying the soldier to the western Philippine island of Palawan with the help of the coast guard the following day, despite Chinese ships sailing near the shoal.
A source familiar with the incident told Kyodo News late Tuesday that Philippine Coast Guard personnel were called in from an island to assist the transfer of the patient at the time of the interference by China.
The source also said China harassed the Philippines in May when a high-speed coast guard boat evacuated three servicemen from the naval outpost to receive medical treatment.
Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino told reporters last month that there was a near-collision between Philippine and Chinese vessels during the evacuation.
The Philippines has regularly sent provisions to the naval outpost on the shoal and rotated its personnel there while China, which lays claim to the shoal, has interfered by blocking or blasting water cannons at the Philippine vessels more frequently since last year.
On the same day in May when China disrupted the transfer of the injured servicemen, the Chinese coast guard seized one of four parcels that a Philippine airplane dropped for the Filipino troops at the naval outpost, dumping the contents of the package into the water, according to the Philippine military.
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