Supply boats defy Ayungin blockade

(UPDATE) BOATS resupplying Philippine troops on Ayungin Shoal completed their mission Friday, but not before they were harassed by a swarm of Chinese coast guard and militia vessels, an American security analyst reported.

Two China Coast Guard (CCG) ships and 10 Chinese maritime militia vessels were monitored at 5 a.m. several kilometers off Ayungin Shoal, massing apparently to block the approaching Philippine boats on a third mission in five weeks to bring provisions to the troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine Navy ship, which had been deliberately beached on the shoal, according to Ray Powell, project lead for Project Myoushu at Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.