MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday that the largest vessel in China’s coast guard had anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, aiming to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.
The 165-meter “monster ship” of the Chinese Coast Guard entered Manila’s 200-nautical-mile EEZ on July 2, Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said at a press forum.
The PCG warned the Chinese vessel that it was in the Philippine EEZ and asked what its intentions were, he said.
“This is a form of intimidation by the Chinese coast guard,” Tarriela said. “We are not going to withdraw and we will not be intimidated.”
The Chinese Embassy in Manila and China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese Coast Guard does not have publicly available contact information.
The Chinese vessel, which also deployed a small boat, was anchored 800 meters from the PCG vessel, Tarriela said.
In May, the Canadian Coast Guard deployed a ship to the Sabina Bank to prevent China from carrying out small-scale land reclamation, which China rejected. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military installations, raising concerns in Washington and the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key shipping lane for $3 trillion a year, as its own territory. Beijing rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that its vast maritime claims had no legal basis.
The Philippines and China agreed Tuesday after a high-level dialogue on the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has refused offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to help with operations in the South China Sea, despite a dispute with China over the routing of Philippine troop resupply missions over a disputed shoal.
(This article has been republished to correct the quotation marks in the title)
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; additional reporting by Ryan Woo; editing by Jacqueline Wong)
