Philippines protests China’s deployment of ‘monster ship’ in maritime zone | South China Sea News
A spokesman for the Philippines’ National Security Council said Manila was surprised by China’s ‘increasing aggression’ in the maritime dispute.
The Philippines said China’s deployment of its largest coast guard ship inside Manila’s exclusive maritime economic zone (EEZ) was alarming and apparently intended to intimidate fishermen operating around shoals in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
Philippine National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya said on Tuesday that Manila lodged a protest over the presence of the 165-meter (541ft) long Chinese Coast Guard vessel 5901, which was spotted 77 nautical miles (142km) off the coast of Zambales province, and demanded its withdrawal from the EEZ. -and.
“We were surprised by the increasing aggression that the People’s Republic of China has shown in deploying the monster ship,” Malaya said.
“It’s an escalation and a provocation,” he said, saying the ship’s presence was “illegal” and “unacceptable.”
The Philippine Coast Guard said it deployed two of its largest ships to chase away the Chinese vessel.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Monday that its coast guard’s “patrol and law enforcement activities” were “reasonable, lawful and flawless” in the area.
The Philippine National Maritime Council also condemned on Monday the “illegal presence and operations” of “Chinese naval forces and militias” within the country’s territorial waters and EEZ, identifying two coast guard ships and a Chinese navy helicopter that were “hovering over” a Philippine Coast Guard ship .
“The escalating actions of these Chinese ships and aircraft are in blatant disregard of Philippine and international law,” the council said in a statement.
𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 | 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐇𝐇 𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐌𝐂 𝐍𝐓𝐄 CONTINUOUS ILLEGAL PRESENCE AND OPERATION OF VESSELS AND PLAN HELICOPTER WITHIN THEM 𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐄𝐄𝐙 pic.twitter.com/0sN0qiy7If
— President’s Office of Maritime Affairs (@POMC57) January 13, 2025
Tensions between the Philippines and Beijing have risen significantly over the past two years over overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international court ruled that China’s claims to large parts of the disputed waterway were groundless, a decision Beijing rejects.
China’s expansive claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The South China Sea is a strategic maritime route through which about 3 trillion dollars of annual trade moves.
