After Beijing sent its largest beach guard vessel into Manila’s sea territory on Tuesday ( Jan 14), the Philippines accused China of intimidating its fishing at a contested South China Sea reef and normalizing an “illegal presence” there.
The decision comes in response to rising tensions between Beijing and the Philippines, a US agreement ally, over the course of the past two years due to their overlapping claims in the South China Sea’s active waterway.
The Philippines has protested this month against Chinese vessels entering its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone ( EEZ ), including the 165-meter long ship 5901, which was last seen 143 kilometers off the western province of Zambales.
The “monster send” that he claimed was used to intimidate Manila’s fishing around Scarborough Shoal, was reiterated by Jonathan Malaya, a spokesperson for the Philippines ‘ National Security Council.
We were taken aback when the People’s Republic of China deployed the demon ship, Malaya said at a press conference.
” It is an intensification and provocative”, Malaya added, calling the presence of the vessel “illegal” and “unacceptable”.
It is also a obvious attempt to deprive our fishing of their reasonable employment.
China’s embassy in Manila said the reef, which it calls” Huangyan Dao”, is China’s province, and its behavior are in “full compliance with the law”.
” It is entirely justified”, the ambassador said in a statement.