MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippine military has ordered more naval vessels to be deployed for “sovereignty patrols” in the South China Sea, where a Chinese flotilla has swarmed around a reef in disputes and has ignored Manila’s demand to leave the area.
Philippine Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana has asked about 200 Chinese ships he described as militia boats to immediately leave Whitsun Reef, a shallow coral region about 324 kilometers west of the city of Bataraza, in the province of Palawan, in the west of the Philippines. China ignored the call and insisted that it owned the coastal territory and that the ships were protected from the rough seas.
Military Chief Cirilito Sobejana ordered the deployment of additional naval vessels to bolster the country’s “maritime sovereignty patrols” in disputed waters, the army said Thursday.
He did not say to what extent the Philippine navy ships would maneuver the Chinese ships, whose presence Lorenzana has described as “incursion” and “provocative action to militarize the area.”
“With the increasing naval presence in the area, we are trying to reassure the strong and unwavering commitment of our people in the Philippine Armed Forces to protect and defend them from harassment and ensure that they can enjoy the their rights over the country’s rich fisheries. ” “Military spokesman General Edgard Arevalo said in a statement.”
The United States said Tuesday it supports the Philippines in the new dispute with Beijing and accused China of using “maritime militias to intimidate, provoke and threaten other nations, which undermines peace and security in the region.”
The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest, but China has insisted it owns the reef, which it calls Niué Jiao, and has claimed that Chinese ships converged on the area to avoid difficult waters. The United States, however, said that “Chinese ships have been mooring this area for many months in increasing numbers, regardless of the weather.”
Beijing denied that the ships were maritime militias. “Any speculation in this regard helps nothing but cause unnecessary irritations,” the Chinese embassy said on Monday.
The Philippine government says the reef is within the country’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone over which it “enjoys the exclusive right to exploit or conserve any resource.”
Philippine military officials discussed the stalemate with China’s People’s Liberation Army and conveyed Lorenzana’s demand for Chinese ships to abandon the reef, which Manila calls Julian Felipe, Arevalo said.
President Rodrigo Duterte stated Manila’s position in a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, but did not report any resolution.
Greg Poling, of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, a U.S.-based think tank that monitors land conflicts closely, said more Chinese fishing boats and militias had recently frequented Whitsun Reef in the United States. northeast end of Union Banks, an atoll where China maintains two bases. Vietnam, which also claims the area, has four bases.
“This deployment in Whitsun Reef is not new, but the numbers are very high,” Poling told The Associated Press.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked up for decades in a tense territorial clash over the rich and resource-rich South China Sea.