Pictures Show US Ally Airdropping Supplies To Avoid China Blockade

The Philippines on Sunday airdropped supplies to the disputed South China Sea territory at the center of its bitter geopolitical feud with China.

The mission to Second Thomas Shoal was a departure from the supply boat convoys the U.S. ally usually tasks with resupply missions to its military outpost there, the dilapidated, 80-year-old warship the BRP Sierre Madre.

The Sierra Madre, still in active duty, was purposefully run aground off the tiny atoll in the Spratly Islands archipelago over two decades ago to mark Manila's claim on the otherwise uninhabited reef.

Now, it is all that is keeping Chinese maritime forces from seizing de facto control over the area like they did with another Spratly feature, Scarborough Shoal, in 2012.

Photos shared on social media appeared to capture the airdrop from the perspectives of different participants.

A crew member aboard a government prop plane was seen dropping a sack of supplies out the door and into the water below.

Other images, taken from sea level, showed the supply plane making a pass as well as members of the Sierra Madre's Philippine Marines fishing out the floating packages.

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While the airlift was out of the norm, it was also too early to say whether the Sierra Madre's crew would be receiving help from above on a regular basis.

"The airdrop pictured appeared to deliver a limited amount, and so can only be considered a stopgap measure," Ray Powell, director of the Stanford-affiliated SeaLight project, told Newsweek.

Manila's operation only "marginally extended" the time between its larger, regular supply trips by boats, said Powell, who did not think China was overly concerned about the latest mission, given the modest amount of cargo the plane could carry.

"On the other hand, if the Philippines were to invest in seaplanes or floatplanes, that would expand their resupply options," he said.

Beijing's officials say the grounded warship is illegal and violating Chinese sovereignty. Experts believe China hopes to keep out or discourage Philippine boats from ferrying consignments that include construction materials, so the physical manifestation of the Philippines' claim will rust away.

In recent months, Philippine supply trips to the uninhabited shoal, and the large coast guard and maritime militia ships China sends to blockade them, have seen increasingly tense standoffs.

During one such mission early last month, Chinese coast guard ships blasted supply boats with water cannons, causing damage to at least one Philippine vessel's engine. It was later towed back to port.

Another supply boat, which had the Philippine military's chief of staff in tow, collided with a blocking Chinese vessel as it sought to get clear of the maritime scrum.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including those parts lying within the Philippines' internationally recognized exclusive economic zone like Second Thomas Shoal, which Manila calls Ayungin Shoal and Beijing calls Ren'ai Reef.

The Philippines and a number of Asian and Western governments, including the United States, insist an international tribunal's 2016 ruling against China's sweeping claims in the sea is legally binding. China maintains the ruling, based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, is invalid.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other American officials have repeatedly stated the U.S.'s decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines extends to attacks anywhere, including the South China Sea.

Last week, Philippine and Chinese officials met to discuss ways to deescalate tensions and avoid the use of force. However, neither side has voiced willingness to abandon its position on the territorial matter.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela told local media Friday he had "high hopes" for the talks but "moderate expectations."

The Philippines' armed forces and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Newsweek's written requests for comment.