DEFEATING THE CHINESE CABBAGE PATCH STRATEGY IN THE SPRATLYS.....With Gardening?

THE SIERRA MADRE WITH A 

HANDFUL OF PHILIPPINE MARINES 

ABOARD STANDS ALONE AGAINST 

THE CIRCLING CHINESE COAST 

GUARD. THE SHIP HAS STOOD 

GUARD OVER AYUNGIN SHOAL 

SINCE 1999. Yahoo News Philippines

Philippine Navy Photo: The Sierra Madre as an air drop resupply target. Obviously air drop resupply potential is very limited.

 As the Chinese started to attempt to seize by intimidation the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone waters of all the states bordering the South China Sea a Chinese general officer described the Chinese strategy as "The Cabbage Patch Strategy".  He said China would first surround the off shore islands and shoals of its neighbors with their coast guard (over 900 ships compared to less than 300 in the U.S. Navy and only dozens in the U.S. Coast Guard ), and then begin enforcing fisheries regulations and licensing mineral exploration, until Chinese fishing and other commercial craft surrounded each valuable area "like the leaves on a cabbage". The Chinese Coast Guard would then keep the actual sovereign powers out and any "remaining forces" "would leave of their own accord or starve". At times and places the strategy seemed to work but in 1999  eight marines of the Philippine Republic refused to budge. Though often reduced to eating such fish as they can catch, and depending on caught rain water since 1999 the marines aboard the now wrecked and grounded SIERRA MADRE are still holding out. Now a group wants to turn the ship into a garden. Actually we see it as something that could be done and with a great benefit. Just a little help from the United States could make it a 
                                                                                              
reality. A lightly used "Elevating work boat"  could be secured from Louisiana and sent to the Philippines to be commissioned into the Philippine Navy. It could steam out to Ayungin whenever aerial surveillance indicates a light Chinese Coast Guard presence and "jack up" next to the hulk of the Sierra Made, providing new and more comfortable quarters for the Marines. The hulk could then be filled with soil over time and transformed into a garden making for a virtually self sufficient human population on the shoal, a factor in international law that is never ignored. 

Yahoo News Philippines has the story

"Amid disputes in the West Philippine Sea, a dilapidated ship occupied by a handful of Marines seems to be the only thing that stands between the Philippines and China.

"BRP Sierra Madre, a warship the Philippines deliberately ran aground the Ayungin Shoal in 1999, serves as a failing reminder of the Philippine claim on disputed seas."
An online community called “It’s No Fun in Pag-asa” is leading efforts aimed at boosting the morale of military men stationed in the border with China, as well as residents there.
The same group, led by activist Carlos Celdran is now pushing for the conversion of BRP Sierra Madre into a garden—possibly one where Marines can grow vegetables."

TO READ MORE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW: https://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-vibes/new-life-for-old-ph-ship-in-disputed-ayungin-shoal-105649985.html

Ayungin

Some of our previous posts on the situation at Ayungin & the Spratly Islands

China is trying to force the removal of the Sierra Madre from Ayungin

Philippines refuse to move the Sierra Madre

The Philippines resupply the Sierra Madre (AKA "Santa Maria")

Philippines files rebuttal to China's claims in the South China sea

Military utility of China's coast guard

The Swimming Dragon, An Olive Branch or a Vulture Sitting on a Branch?

China attempts to regulate fishing over the entire South China Sea, including the territorial waters of neighboring states.

The South China Sea: Every Nation for Itself Paperback

by U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (Author)