MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday that China's largest coast guard ship is anchored in Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, in an attempt to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.
The 165-meter-long “monster ship” of the Chinese coast guard entered Manila's 200-nautical-mile-wide EEZ on July 2, PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela told a news forum.
The PCG warned the Chinese vessel that it was in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and asked about its intentions, he said.
“It's an intimidation from the Chinese coast guard,” Tarriela said. “We're not going to retreat and we're not going to be intimidated.”
The Chinese embassy in Manila and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese coast guard has no publicly available contact information.
The Chinese vessel, which also deployed a small boat, was anchored 750 meters away from the PCG ship, Tarriela said.
In May, the PCG deployed a ship to the Sabina Sand Plain to deter small-scale land reclamation by China, which denies the claim. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on several islands in the South China Sea and built air force and other military facilities, raising concerns in Washington and the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a vital passageway for $3 trillion in annual shipping trade, as its own territory. Beijing rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which said its sweeping maritime claims had no legal basis.
After a high-level dialogue, 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 offers from the United States, its ally, to help with operations in the South China Sea, despite a heated row with China over the diversion of supply missions to Philippine troops on a disputed sandbank.
(This story has been refiled to place the correct quotation mark in the headline)
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
