The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon.
“Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement.
Photo: Philippine Coast Guard / AFP
He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area to challenge the “unlawful” Chinese patrols, to ensure “that this bullying behavior does not succeed.”
The China Coast Guard deployed three vessels from its Guangdong and Hainan bases to Philippine waters between Dec. 30 and Saturday, Tarriela said.
On Saturday, he said a huge Chinese coast guard ship widely known as the “Monster” had returned to its exclusive economic zone, prompting its own coast guard vessel to approach and issue a radio challenge.
The Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua approached the 12,000-tonne Chinese patrol ship’s “starboard side at close range, effectively hindering the China Coast Guard vessel’s attempts to move” toward the coastline of the western province of Zambales, Tarriela wrote on social media.
The “Monster” replaced another vessel, CCG 3304, in the area, he said.
The Philippine Coast Guard “has consistently communicated over the radio, reminding the Chinese crew that they are unlawfully operating within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and do not possess any legal authority to conduct maritime patrols,” he said.
It is at least the second time this month that the Philippines has challenged the China Coast Guard vessel CCG 5901. Bigger than a US Navy destroyer, the vessel is armed with anti-aircraft guns and fuel storage capacities that allow it to undertake extended missions.
Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that went against it.
Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
Former Chinese ministers of national defense Wei Fenghe(魏鳳和) and Li Shangfu (李尚福) were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, underscoring the severity of the purge in the military. The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023. Earlier this year they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in
New Zealand is open to expanding its frigate fleet beyond its current two vessels, with New Zealand Minister of Defence Chris Penk saying “no options are off the table” as the government weighs buying new warships from Japan or the UK. The government yesterday said it is looking to replace its two aging Anzac-class frigates, which were both commissioned almost 30 years ago. The UK’s Type 31 and Japan’s Mogami-class warships are the options under consideration. Speaking in an interview, Penk said there is potential to increase the number of frigates the nation purchases. “We need a certain amount of capability as a
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it deployed aircraft to issue radio warnings to a Chinese research ship in a disputed area of the South China Sea “swarming” with vessels from Beijing’s so-called maritime militia. The research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 33 (向陽紅33), which is capable of supporting submersible craft, was operating near a reef in the contested Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, the Philippine Coast Guard said. The Chinese ship was deploying a service boat toward the Spratly’s Iroquois Reef on Wednesday when it was spotted by a coast guard plane, “confirming ongoing unauthorized [marine scientific research]
RSS