MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Saturday that China’s largest coast guard ship has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea and aims to intimidate its Asian neighbor smaller.
The 165-meter ‘monster ship’ of China’s coast guard entered Manila’s 200-nautical-mile EEZ on July 2, PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela said at a news forum.
The PCG alerted the Chinese vessel that it was in the Philippine EEZ and inquired about its intentions, he said.
“It is intimidation by the Chinese Coast Guard,” said Tarriela. “We will not give up and we will not be intimidated.”
China’s embassy in Manila and China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s coast guard does not have publicly available contact information.
The Chinese vessel, which also used a small boat, was anchored 800 meters from the PCG ship, Tarriela said.
In May, the PCG sent a ship to the Sabina shoal to prevent small-scale reclamation by China, which denied the claim. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some South China Sea islands, building an air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and across the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key waterway for $3 billion in annual shipping trade, as its own territory. Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, which said its extensive maritime claims had no legal basis.
After a high-level dialogue, the Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday on the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild trust” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has rejected offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to help operations in the South China Sea, despite a conflict with China over directing resupply missions for Philippine troops on a contested shoal.
(This story has been refiled to correct quotation marks in title)
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; additional reporting by Ryan Woo; editing by Jacqueline Wong)
