Philippines alarmed after China sends ‘monster ship’ to disputed shoal
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The Philippine Coast Guard said it had deployed two of its largest vessels to drive away the Chinese vessel.
PHOTO: AFP
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MANILA – The Philippines accused China on Jan 14 of intimidating its fishermen at a disputed South China Sea shoal and normalising an “illegal presence”, after Beijing sent its largest coast guard vessel into Manila’s maritime zone.
The move comes against the backdrop of rising tension between the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and China over the past two years, stemming from their overlapping claims in the busy waterway of the South China Sea.
The Philippines protested in January against the entry of Chinese vessels into its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including the 165m-long ship 5901, last spotted 77 nautical miles off the western Philippine province of Zambales.
Mr Jonathan Malaya, a spokesman for the Philippines’ National Security Council, reiterated a call for Beijing to withdraw from Manila’s waters the “monster ship” he said was deployed to intimidate Philippine fishermen around Scarborough Shoal.
“We were surprised about the increasing aggression being shown by the People’s Republic of China in deploying the monster ship,” Mr Malaya told a press conference.
“It is an escalation and provocative,” he added, calling the presence of the vessel “illegal” and “unacceptable”.
“It is also a clear attempt to intimidate our fishermen and deprive them of their legitimate livelihood.”
China’s embassy in Manila said the shoal, which it calls “Huangyan Dao”, is China’s territory, and that its actions are in “full accordance with the law”.
“It is fully justified,” the embassy said in a statement.
Since China seized Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a stand-off with the Philippines, its coast guard ships have maintained a constant presence to patrol the area.
But China’s recent actions have become more concerning because its coast guard vessels have moved closer to the Philippine coast, Mr Malaya added.
The Philippine Coast Guard said it had sent two of its largest vessels to drive away the ship, whose presence, its spokesperson said, aimed to normalise China’s “illegal deployment” of coast guard vessels in Manila’s EEZ.
China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, a strategic shipping conduit for about US$3 trillion (S$4.1 trillion) of annual commerce, overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled that China’s claims to large swathes of the disputed waterway had no basis
