What’s New
The Philippine coast guard has released a video of a Chinese warship sailing nearby, less than 60 miles off the coast of the Southeast Asian country, amid territorial tensions between Beijing and Manila.
Why It Matters
China asserts control over nearly all of the South China Sea, claims that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of several neighbors, including the Philippines.
Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022, Manila increasingly pushed back, with Chinese maritime forces stepping up their presence within the Philippine maritime zone in response.
This has led to clashes over disputed features, such as the Spratly Islands’ Second Thomas Shoal and Sabina Shoal, with Chinese coast guard vessels ramming and deploying water cannons in their efforts to drive off Philippine government ships.
Internet photo
What To Know
Philippine fisheries bureau vessel the BRP Cabra and coast guard ship the Teresa Magbanua carried out a “routine maritime patrol” near one of the most hotly disputed features, Scarborough Shoal, Thursday morning, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
On their mission, during which Philippine ships passed out supplies to local fishermen, a fisheries bureau patrol plane observed a pair of Chinese coast guard ships near the atoll. Seven vessels belonging to China’s “Maritime Militia” were also spotted “in the surrounding waters,” with two of the paramilitary ships inside the Scarborough Shoal itself, the spokesperson added.
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Philippine Coast Guard
Philippine Coast Guard
Philippine Coast Guard
China seized effective control over the rich fishing grounds, known in the Philippines as Bajo De Masinloc and in China as Huangyan Island, in 2012 after a standoff.
Also on Thursday, a Chinese warship with the bow number 552 was spotted about 50 nautical miles (58 miles) off the coast of Zambales province in Luzon, the Philippines’ most populous island. The video shared by Tarriela confirms the ship to be Jiangdao-class corvette the Guangyuan, operated by the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Southern Command.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry by email with a request for comment outside of office hours.
What People Are Saying
Tarriela said on X: “The Philippine Coast Guard and BFAR [Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources] are committed to upholding the rights of Filipino fishermen and ensuring their safety in the West Philippine Sea, while actively promoting peaceful and secure maritime operations.”
Ray Powell, director of the Stanford University-affiliated maritime monitoring group Sealight, wrote on X that he had brought up China’s activities with a Chinese official: “After he claimed at a conference yesterday that China respects all countries’ freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, I asked a Chinese diplomat what gives them legal right to intercept the Philippines’ ships 30-50 nautical miles from any claimed South China Sea feature. His response: ‘We know what they are going to do.'”
What Happens Next
Beijing has repeatedly said it will “safeguard” its rights in the South China Sea and told Manila to stop “hyping the issue” and adhere to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
That document, signed by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reaffirms U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China’s South China Sea claims violate, an international arbitral tribunal determined in 2016.
Amid continuing friction with the East Asian power, Marcos earlier this month dismissed suggestions that the Philippines could deploy warships of its own to disputed areas of the South China Sea, saying “We will never be part of an escalation.”
