Filipino activists decide not to sail closer to disputed shoal, avoiding clash with Chinese ships

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — More than 100 Filipino activists on wooden boats have decided not to sail closer to a fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea to avoid a confrontation with dozens of Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships guarding the area. Organizers say they will distribute food packs and fuel on Thursday to Filipino fishermen about 58 nautical miles southeast of Scarborough Shoal and then sail back home. Chinese and Philippine coast guard and accompanying ships have had a series of increasingly hostile territorial faceoffs at Scarborough, which is surrounded by the Chinese coast guard, and at Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal since last year.