Two Filipino fishermen were rescued by China’s coastguard near a disputed South China Sea Shoal on December 2.
A Philippine coastguard vessel was navigating choppy waters to collect the two fishermen from the Chinese ship. This is the first time in four years that coastguards of both countries were in close proximity in the Scarborough Shoal.
The rescue illustrates the rapid changes in the relationship between the two countries under President Rodrigo Duterte, who in only a few months has sought to turn a historic foe into a friend. He visited Beijing in October and has met twice with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, to whom he has expressed admiration.
The last time coastguards of the two countries were both at the shoal was in June 2012, during a protracted face-off sparked by Philippine attempts to arrest Chinese fishermen.
That led to the Philippines lodging a case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which infuriated China and put its claims to most of the South China Sea in the international spotlight.
The Philippines won that case in July, with the arbitral award voiding China’s U-shaped line of sovereignty on its maps.
The ruling made clear the Scarborough Shoal was under the jurisdiction of no country and claimants China, the Philippines and Vietnam were entitled to exploit its plentiful fish stocks.
China was until recently overseeing a blockade of the shoal some 124 miles off the Philippines coast, chasing away Filipino fishermen and sometimes blasting them with water cannon.
Duterte has told Xi he will unilaterally turn the shoal into a marine sanctuary, banning fishing within the lagoon and restricting it to the peripherals. It is unclear whether Xi will agree to that and how it would be enforced.
