Chinese ships are no longer at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and Philippine boats can resume fishing, the Philippine defence minister said on Friday, calling the Chinese departure a "welcome development", Reuters reported. Philippine fishermen can access the shoal unimpeded for the first time in four years, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, capping off a startling turnaround in ties since his country rattled China in 2013 by challenging its maritime claims at an international tribunal. The departure of the Chinese coast guard ships comes after President Rodrigo Duterte's high-profile visit to Beijing and follows his repeated requests for China to end its blockade of the shoal, a tranquil lagoon rich in fish stocks. "Since three days ago there are no longer Chinese ships, coast guard or navy, in the Scarborough area," Lorenzana told reporters. "If the Chinese ships have left, then it means our fishermen can resume fishing in the area." Though the Scarborough Shoal is comprised of only a few rocks poking above the sea some 124 nautical miles off the Philippine mainland, it is symbolic of Manila's efforts to assert its maritime sovereignty claims. Lorenzana did not explain the circumstances of the Chinese vessels leaving the shoal, which was the centrepiece of a case Manila filed in 2013 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. And there was some confusion about the situation at sea, with a Philippine military spokesman earlier saying Chinese vessels were "still there". Some fishermen familiar with the area said the same. Asked on Friday about the return of Philippine fishermen to the shoal, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made no mention of a coast guard withdrawal. The two countries "were able to work together on issues regarding the South China Sea and appropriately resolve disputes," Lu told a regular briefing. Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said a Chinese pullout from Scarborough Shoal would be "a big deal, if it's true and if it's sustained".
