Chinese coast guard vessels repeatedly blocked or chased Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen from a disputed shoal where they previously had only tried to block military supply runs, a Philippine marine officer said today.
Marine 1st Lt Mike Pelotera said he and his men saw the fishermen being "bullied" away from the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea at least eight times from December to March, when his marine monitoring unit was replaced by a new batch.
He said he shot a video of a Chinese ship chasing a wooden-hulled Vietnamese fishing boat dangerously close to coral outcrops.
Chinese blockades of fishing boats have been reported in other disputed areas, but Pelotera's comments were the first military report of such activity against fishermen trying to venture into Second Thomas Shoal.
The Chinese coast guard in recent months has tried to block boats delivering marines and food supplies to a rusting Philippine navy ship deliberately marooned at the shoal since 1999.
"It's with a heavy heart that we saw our countrymen being bullied away from our own territory," Pelotera said. "But we're observing a maximum-tolerance policy and we want this dispute to be peacefully resolved.
