Forty China ships are blockading Escoda Shoal very near PalawaThe intruders are fortifying the feature. But the AFP declines US military help in the tinderbox area only 70 nautical miles from land. Three People’s Liberation Army-Navy warships and nine China Coast Guard gunboats swarm Escoda (Sabina). More than 31 China Maritime Militia steel trawlers augment them. China has been landfilling the shoal lagoon with crushed corals since May. Such reinforcing precedes rock-laying and concreting, like in Panganiban (Mischief) Reef farther off.

Bondoc, J. (2024, August 30). 40 China ships blockading, fortifying reef near Palawan. The Philippine Star, p. 9.