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The Journal.

A Tiny Crew, a Wooden Boat and a Mission to Hit Back at China

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Business News, News, Daily News

4.25.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Philippines and China are in an ongoing dispute over competing territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea. A recent incident at Scarborough Shoal has added to tensions. WSJ’s Niharika Mandhana explains. Further Reading and Watching: -China Coast Guard Ship Collides With Philippine Boat in South China Sea -How a Tiny Crew Struck a Blow Against China With a Wooden Boat and a Knife -Philippines Removes Chinese Floating Barrier in South China Sea Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Off the coast of the Philippines in the South China Sea, there's a place called the

0:10.4

Scarborough Shoal. Scarborough Shole is a triangular beef,

0:15.0

and in the middle is a blue, beautiful lagoon.

0:21.0

That's our colleague Nijariqamandana and she says that the lagoon only has one

0:27.8

entry point. It's uninhabited it has no structures on it, and it's a traditional fishing ground for

0:36.2

Filipino fishermen as well as Chinese fishermen. So it is a site for fishing?

0:41.8

Yes, for generations, fishermen from around that region

0:46.0

from the Philippines in particular

0:47.6

have been fishing in the area.

0:50.4

For more than a decade, China's been blocking Philippine access to the shoal,

0:55.5

heightening tensions between the two countries.

0:58.5

Last month, China put up a floating barrier with white buoys at the entry of the lagoon,

1:04.9

and the Philippines decided to push back.

1:09.9

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard sailed to the shoal and snuck to the edge of the barrier.

1:18.0

So what they do is they go in, not in a Philippine Coast Guard vessel, but in a wooden fishing vessel that looks like the kind of vessel that Filipino fishermen in that area use.

1:30.0

It's called a bunker.

1:32.0

And there's a very small crew of the Philippine Coast Guard personnel.

1:38.0

They are not wearing their uniforms because they don't want to attract a lot of attention.

1:42.0

They want to look like fishermen and they want to get to the barrier.

1:45.0

One of the divers dives in, takes a small knife,

1:52.0

sores at the rope where it attaches to the anchor for the barrier, and the rope comes

2:00.9

loose. They then pick the anchor up,

...

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