The Philippines yesterday condemned in the “strongest terms” an incident on Tuesday wherein three Chinese Coast Guard vessels “blocked and water cannoned” two Philippine boats on their way to transport food supplies to military personnel stationed on a grounded naval transport ship at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal. In a statement yesterday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Beijing’s “failure to exercise self-restraint threatens” PhilippineChina relations. The Palawanbased Western Command reported the incident involving the Chinese vessels. “Fortunately, no one was hurt; but our boats had to abort their resupply mission,” Locsin said. Filipino soldiers assigned to guard Ayungin Shoal are stationed on the grounded

Lee-Brago, P., Felipe, C. S., Romero, A., Villanueva, R. E., & Ramirez, R. (2021, November 19). The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 6.