MANILA — China has withdrawn its boats from the lagoon of a tiny South China Sea shoal following an agreement with the Philippines that at least temporarily eased the countries' territorial dispute, officials in Manila said Monday. The Philippine government pulled out its two vessels from Scarborough Shoal on June 15, and President Benigno Aquino III last week threatened to send them back unless China also withdrew. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said that he had received information that all boats had left the shoal's lagoon as of Saturday. He said earlier that China and the Philippines had reached a verbal agreement to pull out from the lagoon. — AP
