The Philippines will not remove a ramshackle Navy ship grounded on an atoll in the South China Sea, its Defense chief said on Thursday, rejecting a Chinese demand days after it blocked a Philippine resupply mission. Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin, lies within the Southeast Asian Nation’s exclusive economic zone “where we have sovereign rights,” Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said in a statement. “That ship has been there since 1999,” he separately told reporters. “If there was a commitment it would have been removed a long time ago.”

Tan, A. N. O., & Atienza, K. A. T. (2021, November 26). Philippines rejects China demand to leave shoal. BusinessWorld, p. S1/10.