A Philippine mission by volunteers to bring the festive spirit to the fishers, troops and coastguard crew in the disputed South China Sea was forced to turn back on Sunday after organisers said they had been shadowed and intercepted by Chinese vessels.
“At the end of the day, that’s the most crucial aspect of the mission – that we are able to deliver the Christmas gifts,” said David, the president of the Akbayan party, which is a co-convener of Atin Ito, the coalition that organised the trip.
Holy Mass was briefly interrupted, but continued on the deck of the Christmas mothership, as it turned around to return to El Nido, according to reports of media onboard.
Organisers had decided early during the convoy that a smaller supply boat, the most crucial in the mission, should take a different route and not go with the main group to the vicinity of Second Thomas Shoal, which is a major flashpoint.“Because everybody was looking at the main convoy and the mother ship, what they didn’t know was that ML Chowee [the supply boat] was already in safer, more shallow waters, and was able to sneak past all the tension,” said David.
A day earlier, the Philippines said Chinese vessels had fired water cannon at a civilian government boat near Scarborough Shoal, and used what it understood to be a long-range acoustic device.
Organisers said they wanted to send a message to China that the Philippines will not be bullied, and to show support to fishing communities whose livelihoods have suffered as a result of overfishing or harassment by Chinese vessels, as well as the troops and coastguard officials who are on the frontlines of the dispute.
The original article contains 755 words, the summary contains 283 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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A Philippine mission by volunteers to bring the festive spirit to the fishers, troops and coastguard crew in the disputed South China Sea was forced to turn back on Sunday after organisers said they had been shadowed and intercepted by Chinese vessels.
“At the end of the day, that’s the most crucial aspect of the mission – that we are able to deliver the Christmas gifts,” said David, the president of the Akbayan party, which is a co-convener of Atin Ito, the coalition that organised the trip.
Holy Mass was briefly interrupted, but continued on the deck of the Christmas mothership, as it turned around to return to El Nido, according to reports of media onboard.
Organisers had decided early during the convoy that a smaller supply boat, the most crucial in the mission, should take a different route and not go with the main group to the vicinity of Second Thomas Shoal, which is a major flashpoint.“Because everybody was looking at the main convoy and the mother ship, what they didn’t know was that ML Chowee [the supply boat] was already in safer, more shallow waters, and was able to sneak past all the tension,” said David.
A day earlier, the Philippines said Chinese vessels had fired water cannon at a civilian government boat near Scarborough Shoal, and used what it understood to be a long-range acoustic device.
Organisers said they wanted to send a message to China that the Philippines will not be bullied, and to show support to fishing communities whose livelihoods have suffered as a result of overfishing or harassment by Chinese vessels, as well as the troops and coastguard officials who are on the frontlines of the dispute.
The original article contains 755 words, the summary contains 283 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!