China’s largest coast guard vessel has anchored in Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday, and it appears to be aimed at intimidating its smaller Asian neighbour.
China Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriella told a news platform that the 165-meter-long “giant ship” of the China Coast Guard entered Manila’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone on July 2.
He said the PCG warned the Chinese ship that it was in the Philippines’ EEZ and asked about its intentions.
“This is a threat from the Chinese Coast Guard,” Tarriella said. “We are not going to back down and we are not going to be intimidated.”
The Chinese embassy in Manila and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China’s coast guard has no publicly available contact information.
Tarriella said the Chinese ship, which also deployed a small boat, was anchored 800 yards from the PCG vessel.
In May, the PCG deployed a ship to Sabina Shoal to prevent small-scale reclamation by China, which denies the claim. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a major route for $3 trillion of annual shipping trade. Beijing has rejected a 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that said its sweeping maritime claims had no legal basis.
Following high-level talks, the Philippines and China on Tuesday agreed on the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has rejected an offer by its treaty ally, the United States, to assist in operations in the South China Sea, while it is locked in a dispute with China over sending resupply missions to Filipino troops in the disputed maritime region.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
